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MVB Plays a Pair at No. 9 GCU

Mar 30, 2021
Cole Pender had a career-high 12 digs against Pepperdine in 2019.

THIS WEEK --  UCLA (11-4), ranked No. 6 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll, will travel to play at No. 9 Grand Canyon (4-8) on Apr. 2 and 3. Last week, the Bruins swept a pair of road contests at Stanford on March 23 and 24. Earlier this season, the Bruins defeated GCU in the season-opener. UCLA has won 6 of its last 7 overall matches with the lone loss at Pepperdine. This week's match at Pepperdine was canceled due to COVID protocol concerns within the Waves' program.

All 2021 home matches are scheduled for Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. At the current time, no fans will be present for UCLA home matches.

LAST MEETING --  In the first match of the 2021 season (Jan. 29), the Bruins dealt Grand Canyon a 3-0 setback (25-20, 25-22, 25-22). UCLA outhit the Antelopes .341 to .229 in that contest while Ketrzynski paced the attack with 13 kills.

NOTES -- Cole Ketrzynski has reached double-digits in kills in 11/12 matches he has played in this season ... he has recorded at least one ace in 10 matches--not Stanford (3/6), not Pepperdine (3/13) ... he is coming off of a 10-ace effort in the two matches at Stanford last week and his 0.59 aces/set average to begin the week ranks 3rd in the NCAA and 1st in MPSF ... had a career-best six aces at Stanford (3/23) after having a total of four for all of the 2020 season ... Ketrzynski rates 9th in the NCAA in kills/s (4.00)  ...  Sam Kobrine has at least 40 set assists in 9 matches and rates 13th in NCAA in set assists (10.14/s) ... he totaled a career-best 61 set assists at Stanford (3/23) ... posted 7 kills, 6 digs and 43 set assists in win over Pepperdine (3/11) ... credited with back-to-back 10-dig matches against Stanford ...  had 41 set assists vs. CUI (3/2) as UCLA hit a season-best .554 ... Kobrine remains the only player in the nation to have registered a triple-double in 2021 -- vs. USC (2/13) 14 kills, 15 assists and 10 digs ... Merrick McHenry has posted double-digit kills in 6 of last 7 matches with a best of 17 kills (3/5) vs. Stanford ... had a career-best 6 block assists at Stanford (3/23) ... put away 10 kills with no errors on 12 swings vs. CUI (3/2) for a season-high .833 percentage ... McHenry began the week ranked 1st in MPSF and 10th in NCAA in hitting % at .448 ... Ethan Champlin had a career-best 18 kills while hitting .441 at Stanford (3/23) ... he fired off three aces vs. the Waves (3/11) and had a season-high five aces v. Stanford (3/6) ...  Austin Matautia had a season-best 14 kills at Stanford (3/23) ... he added a career-best 6 aces in win over Pepperdine (3/11) ... compiled a career-best 5 blocks in (2/20) win at USC .... Matautia hit .400, with 8 kills, in win at BYU ...  Cole Pender had 11 digs in win over Stanford (3/6), one shy of his career best ... also had 11 in the 2021 opener against GCU ... Ian Parish had career-highs of 2 block solos and 7 block assists in win over Pepperdine (3/11) ... he totaled season-bests of 2 aces and 8 kills in win over Stanford (3/5).

UCLA IN NCAA RANKINGS --- Set Assists.: No. 3-12.63; Kills: No. 5-13.09; Aces: No. 7-1.63; Hitting %: No. 7-.321; Opponent Hitting % No. 15-.226, after holding six opponents under .200 for a match.

ON THE ROAD -- UCLA is 5-3 on the road after sweeping Stanford, sweeping USC, splitting a pair of matches at BYU and dropping contests at CUI and Pepperdine.

MPSF -- Due to the possibility of an unbalanced number of league matches played this year, conference wins (NOT win percentage), will be the first criteria looked at to determine MPSF Tournament seeding (Apr. 22-24 at BYU). Conference win percentage will be the first tiebreaker.

MPSF MVB Standings (3/30)
BYU 14-2
UCLA 11-4
Pepperdine 11-5
USC 5-8
Grand Canyon 4-8
Concordia 3-9
Stanford 1-13