2023 UCLA Bruins men's volleyball team

2023 UCLA Bruins men's volleyball
2023 UCLA Bruins men's volleyball
MPSF Regular Season Champions; MPSF Tournament Champions
NCAA Champions
Conference	Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Record	31-2 (12–0 MPSF)
Head coach	John Speraw (11th season);
Assistant coaches	Nick Vogel (1st season); Brandon Taliaferro (1st season);
Home arena	Pauley Pavilion; John Wooden Center
	Seasons ← 2022 2024 →

The 2023 UCLA men's volleyball team represented University of California, Los Angeles in the 2023 NCAA Division I & II men's volleyball season. The Bruins, led by eleventh year head coach John Speraw, played their home games at Pauley Pavilion and the John Wooden Center (when basketball has the use of Pauley Pavilion). The Bruins were members of the MPSF and were picked to finish first in the MPSF preseason poll.^[3]

2023 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 1 UCLA ‍†‍‡‍^y	12	–	0	1.000	31	–	2	.939
No. 8 BYU ‍‍‍	8	–	4	.667	19	–	7	.731
No. 6 Grand Canyon ‍‍‍^y	6	–	6	.500	22	–	8	.733
No. 9 Stanford ‍‍‍	6	–	6	.500	15	–	13	.536
No. 10 Pepperdine ‍‍‍	5	–	7	.417	16	–	14	.533
No. 12 USC ‍‍‍	3	–	9	.250	10	–	16	.385
Concordia Irvine ‍‍‍	2	–	10	.167	8	–	19	.296

† – Conference champion ‡ – 2023 MPSF Tournament champion y- Invited to the NCAA Volleyball Tournament As of November 4, 2024 Rankings from AVCA

Season highlights

Ethan Champlin won the National Outside Attacker of the Week award for Week 0 games.^[4]

Roster

2023 UCLA Bruins roster^[5]

Defensive specialist/libero

4 Troy Gooch - Senior
14 Matthew Aziz - Sophomore
23 Coleman McDonough - Freshman

Middle blockers

2 J.R. Norris IV - Senior
9 Guy Genis - Sophomore
10 Sean McQuiggan - Freshman
13 Merrick McHenry - Junior
15 Christopher Hersh - Freshman
22 Matthew Edwards - Freshman

Outside hitters

3 Cole Ketrzynski - Senior
11 Cooper Robinson - Freshman
12 Alex Knight - Senior
16 Ido David - Sophomore
18 Grant Sloane - Sophomore
20 Ethan Champlin - Junior
21 Zach Rama - Freshman

Opposite hitters

1 Kyle Vom Steeg - Junior
3 Cole Ketrzynski - Senior
16 Ido David - Sophomore
19 David Decker - Freshman

Setters

5 Ayrton Garcia-Jurado - Junior
7 Andrew Rowan - Freshman
24 Miles Partain - Junior (left on Feb. 9, 2023)

Schedule

TV/Internet Streaming information:

All home games will be televised on Pac-12 Network or Pac-12+. Most road games will also be streamed by the schools streaming service. The conference tournament will be streamed by FloVolleyball.

Date time	Opponent	Rank ^{(tournament seed)}	Arena city (tournament)	Television	Score	Attendance	Record (MPSF record)
1/5 5:30 p.m.	vs. CSUN	#2	Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA (UCSB Asics Invitational)		W 3–0 (25–18, 25–21, 25–18)	146	1–0
1/6 3 p.m.	vs. UC San Diego	#2	Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA (UCSB Asics Invitational)		W 3–0 (25–18, 25–16, 25–14)	115	2–0
1/7 8 p.m.	@ #7 UC Santa Barbara	#2	Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA (UCSB Asics Invitational)	ESPN+	W 3–0 (26–24, 25–16, 25–14)	422	3–0
1/13 6 p.m.	Princeton	#2	John Wooden Center Los Angeles, CA	P12+ UCLA	W 3–1 (22-25, 25–18, 25–20, 25-14)	721	4-0
1/20 7 p.m.	#12 UC Santa Barbara	#2	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA	P12+ UCLA	W 3–0 (32-30, 25–17, 25–21)	950	5-0
1/21 7 p.m.	UC San Diego	#2	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA	P12 LA	W 3–0 (25-15, 25–23, 25–18)	923	6-0
1/27 7 p.m.	@ CSUN	#2	Premier America Credit Union Arena Northridge, CA	ESPN+	W 3–0 (25-18, 25–16, 26–24)	507	7-0
1/31 5 p.m.	@ George Mason	#2	Recreation Athletic Complex Fairfax, VA	ESPN+	W 3–0 (25-15, 25–21, 25-19)	455	8-0
2/3 1 p.m.	vs. #13 Ohio State	#2	Rec Hall University Park, PA (Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge)		W 3–1 (25-22, 25–20, 23-25, 25-23)		9-0
2/4 4 p.m.	@ #4 Penn State	#2	Rec Hall University Park, PA (Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge)	B1G+	L 1–3 (21-25, 25-18, 19-25, 17-25)	0	9-1
2/9 8 p.m.	#2 Long Beach State	#4	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA	P12 LA	W 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-20)	2,245	10-1
2/10 7 p.m.	@ #2 Long Beach State	#4	Walter Pyramid Long Beach, CA	ESPN+	W 3-1 (18-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-23)	4,138	11-1
2/17 7 p.m.	#8 BYU*	#2	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA	P12 LA	W 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-18)	1,432	12-1 (1-0)
2/18 5 p.m.	#8 BYU*	#2	John Wooden Center Los Angeles, CA	P12+ UCLA	W 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-18)	1,012	13-1 (2-0)
2/24 7 p.m.	@ #6 UC Irvine	#2	Bren Events Center Irvine, CA	ESPN+	W 3-1 (17-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-16)	2,411	14-1
2/26 5 p.m.	#6 UC Irvine	#2	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA	P12+ UCLA	W 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-16, 27-25)	1,306	15-1
3/1 7 p.m.	Concordia Irvine*	#2	Pauley Pavlion Los Angeles, CA	P12+ UCLA	W 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-14)	798	16-1 (3-0)
3/3 7 p.m.	@ Concordia Irvine*	#2	CU Arena Irvine, CA	EagleEye	W 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-16)	82	17-1 (4-0)
3/9 7 p.m.	vs. #3 Penn State	#2	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI (Outrigger Volleyball invitational)		W 3-2 (25-20, 25-22, 16-25, 21-25, 15-10)	0	18-1
3/10 7 p.m.	Purdue Fort Wayne	#2	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI (Outrigger Volleyball Invitational)		W 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-16)	0	19-1
3/11 10 p.m.	@ #1 Hawai'i	#2	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI (Outrigger Volleyball Invitational)	ESPN+	L 1-3 (27-29, 25-21, 22-25, 26-28)	10,300	19-2
3/17 5 p.m.	@ #10 Stanford*	#3	Burnham Pavilion & Ford Center Stanford, CA	P12+ STAN	W 3-0 (25-12, 25-12, 25-12)	839	20-2 (5-0)
3/18 5 p.m.	@ #10 Stanford*	#3	Burnham Pavilion & Ford Center Stanford, CA	P12+ STAN	W 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-20)	908	21-2 (6-0)
3/31 6 p.m.	@ #5 Grand Canyon*	#2	GCU Arena Phoenix, AZ	ESPN+	W 3-1 (29-31, 27-25, 25-20, 25-13)	1,821	22-2 (7-0)
4/1 6 p.m.	@ #5 Grand Canyon*	#2	GCU Arena Phoenix, AZ	ESPN+	W 3-0 (30-28, 25-21, 25-19)	1,563	23-2 (8-0)
4/6 7 p.m.	#12 USC*	#2	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA	P12 LA	W 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-22)	3,072	24–2 (9-0)
4/8 7 p.m.	@ #12 USC*	#2	Galen Center Los Angeles, CA	P12 LA	W 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-20)	1,614	25–2 (10-0)
4/13 7 p.m.	@ #9 Pepperdine*	#2	Firestone Fieldhouse Malibu, CA	WCC Net	W 3-1 (30-32, 21-25, 23-25, 23-25)	817	26–2 (11-0)
4/15 7 p.m.	#9 Pepperdine*	#2	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA	P12 LA	W 3-1 (26-28, 25-20, 25-16, 25-15)	3,345	27–2 (12-0)
4/19 4:30 p.m.	#7 Grand Canyon ⁽⁴⁾	#2 ⁽¹⁾	Maples Pavilion Stanford, CA (MPSF Semifinal)	FloVolleyball	W 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-20)	457	28-2
4/22 6:05 p.m.	@ #8 Stanford ⁽³⁾	#2 ⁽¹⁾	Maples Pavilion Stanford, CA (MPSF Championship)	FloVolleyball	W 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-23)	1,721	29-2
5/4 2 p.m.	#4 Long Beach State	#2 ⁽¹⁾	EagleBank Arena Fairfax, VA (NCAA Semifinal)	NCAA.com	W 3–0 (25–16, 25-14, 25-19)		30-2
5/6 2 p.m.	#1 Hawai'i ⁽²⁾	#2 ⁽¹⁾	EagleBank Arena Fairfax, VA (NCAA Championship)	ESPN2	W 3–1 (28-26, 31-33, 25-21, 25-21)	6,942	31-2

*-Indicates conference match. (#)-Indicates tournament seeding.

Times listed are Pacific Time Zone. Rank – American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Men's Division I-II Coaches Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Announcers for televised games

UC Santa Barbara: Max Kelton & Katie Spieler^[6]
Princeton: Denny Cline
UC Santa Barbara: Denny Cline
UC San Diego:
CSUN:
George Mason:
Ohio State:
Penn State:
Long Beach State:
Long Beach State:
BYU:
BYU: Denny Cline
UC Irvine:
UC Irvine:
Concordia Irvine:
Concordia Irvine:
Hawai'i:
Stanford:
Stanford:
Grand Canyon:
Grand Canyon:
USC:
USC:
Pepperdine:
Pepperdine:
MPSF Tournament:

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AVCA Coaches	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	1
Off the Block Media	Not released		2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	3	2	1	1	1	1		1

The media did not release a Pre-season or Week 1 poll.

Awards and honors

Will be filled in as the season progresses.

References

^ "Nick Vogel Named MVB Assistant Coach". uclabruins.com. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
^ "MVB Welcomes Taliaferro to Coaching Staff". uclabruins.com. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
^ "UCLA picked to win 2023 MPSF championship in preseason poll". Off the Block. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
^ "Recipients unveiled for Off the Block National Weekly Awards". Off the Block. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
^ "2023 Men's Volleyball Roster - The Official Site of UCLA Athletics". UCLA Athletics.
^ "The Gym is Fully Stocked". Twitter. Retrieved January 7, 2023.

[1] "Nick Vogel Named MVB Assistant Coach". uclabruins.com. Retrieved June 21, 2022.

[2] "MVB Welcomes Taliaferro to Coaching Staff". uclabruins.com. Retrieved October 28, 2022.

[3] "UCLA picked to win 2023 MPSF championship in preseason poll". Off the Block. Retrieved December 16, 2022.

[4] "Recipients unveiled for Off the Block National Weekly Awards". Off the Block. Retrieved January 9, 2023.

[5] "2023 Men's Volleyball Roster - The Official Site of UCLA Athletics". UCLA Athletics.

[6] "The Gym is Fully Stocked". Twitter. Retrieved January 7, 2023.

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