UCLA Men's Volleyball Claims 21st National Championship

LONG BEACH, Calif. – The top-seeded UCLA men's volleyball team won the 2024 Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Championship in four sets on Saturday over No. 2 seed Long Beach State in Walter Pyramid. Scores of the match were 25-21, 25-20, 27-29, 25-21. The victory brought home NCAA men's volleyball championship No. 21 for the program and produced the first back-to-back titles by the Bruins since the 1995 and 1996 seasons, as well as the 122nd overall NCAA title for the school across all sports. The loss snapped a 27-match home court win streak by Long Beach dating back to a Feb. 2023 win by the Bruins.

With today's victory, the Bruins ended the season with wins in 15 of the last 16 matches on the way to the title. UCLA Head Coach John Speraw won his fifth NCAA men's volleyball title as a collegiate head coach – 2024 and 2023 at UCLA; also 2007, 2009, 2012 while at UC Irvine. He helped win three more titles as a UCLA men's volleyball assistant coach – 1996, 1998, 2000 – and also brought home two trophies as a Bruin men's volleyball player in 1993 and 1995 for coach Al Scates.

In set one, UCLA moved in front 6-3 after Beach service errors and kills by Merrick McHenry and Cooper Robinson. Long Beach answered with the next five points on four swings and a block for 6-8. An ace by Robinson evened the score at 8-all. Beach tallied four of the next five points for 9-12. The Bruins stormed back on two kills by McHenry and a block by Robinson/Guy Genis/Ido David to move in front 15-14. Kills by Robinson and Ethan Champlin put UCLA up 18-17 and then 19-18. The serve of Coleman McDonough helped UCLA to 21-18 on a couple of Beach errors. Champlin's off-speed shot made it 22-18. Two more kills by Champlin pushed UCLA to set point at 24-20. After a Bruin attack error, McHenry smashed one straight down, his fourth kill of the frame, for 25-21. UCLA hit .242 to .107 for Beach. Champlin led UCLA with five kills while Robinson added four more.

David followed his kill with a pair of aces as UCLA moved out to a 7-2 advantage early in set two. The Bruin service pressure continued when Robinson stepped to the line and the Bruins upped the gap to 10-4. A Champlin kill was followed by his block solo for 12-5. The Beach rallied to score the next three points on two kills and a block to narrow the margin to 12-8. Robinson's kill and a Genis/Robinson/David block made it 16-11. David's spike found hands for 18-12. A Champlin/Genis block grew the gap to 20-13. Champlin's kill put UCLA up 22-16. The teams exchanged service errors for 24-20. Robinson hit off hands for a 25-20 win. The Bruins hit .374 for the set.

Champlin's left-handed spike put UCLA ahead 6-5 in set three. The Beach came back to even the score at points 10 and 11. A Genis kill and a Champlin/ Andrew Rowan/Genis pushed the margin to two. The score was then even at points 13 through 19. A kill and a Bruin error put the Beach up 19-21. Kills by McHenry and Champlin evened the score at 23-all with Rowan serving. The setter delivered an ace for set point at 24-23, but Long Beach tied it up with a kill. The Beach then had set points at 24-25, 25-26, 26-27 and 27-28 before a kill out of the middle ended the frame at 27-29. Long Beach hit .367 to .286 for the Bruins who had seven attack errors.

Robinson's back-row attack evened set four at 5-all. Champlin wiped one off the block for an 8-6 lead. The Beach roared back with three straight to take the lead. A McHenry/Robinson stuff put UCLA up 10-9. After the Beach rebounded to go up by two, Champlin worked the block to level the score at 14-all. David's smash evened the score at 15. A McHenry/Champlin block and kills by McHenry (who finishes his career as the school's all-time leader in career attack percentage at .519) and Champlin followed for an 18-15 edge. The Beach tallied the next three to level the score at 18. A pair of Zach Rama swings put UCLA up 22-20. Another Rama kill put UCLA up 23-21 before a pair of Long Beach attacking errors earned UCLA the 25-21 set four win, clinching the national title.

2024 NCAA Men's Volleyball All-Tournament Team
Ethan Champlin, UCLA (Most Outstanding Player)
Merrick McHenry, UCLA
Andrew Rowan, UCLA
Hilir Henno, UC Irvine
Camden Gianni, Grand Canyon
Simon Torwie, Long Beach
Skyler Varga, Long Beach