M E N ’ S C O L L E G I A T E V O L L E Y B A L L
Early noise
UCLA races out of the gates to start collegiate men’s season
JOHN SPERAW IS BECOMING ACCUSTOMED to success on multiple levels. Speraw, who coaches both the U.S. Men’s National Team and the UCLA Men’s Team, had the Bruins racing out of the gate to start the 2016 collegiate volleyball season. Speraw guided the U.S. Men’s Team to strong 2015 season, highlighted by a victory at the FIVB Men’s World Cup in September which qualified the team for the 2016 Olympics. UCLA got off to an 8-0 start, which was the
Bruins’ best start since the 2005 season. UCLA trav- eled east to start the season and beat top 10 teams Ohio Sate and Penn State on the same weekend in early January. Speraw is hoping the Bruins will make a return trip to Penn State for the NCAA Division I-II Men’s Volleyball Championship May 5-7 in University Park, Pennsylvania. The Bruins also posted big conference wins over
UC Irvine and rival Southern California, the latter in Pauley Pavilion. The match against the Trojans was the first for new Southern California coach Jeff Nygaard against his alma mater. Nygaard was an AVCA All-American middle blocker at UCLA and later went on to play for the U.S. Men’s National Team in two different Olympics (1996, 2000). He also played in the 2004 Olympics in beach volleyball with partner Dain Blanton. The Bruins have received a lift from freshman
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Freshman Micah Ma’a has been an instant sensation at UCLA as both a hitter and a setter. Ma’a, whose parents both played col- legiately at the University of Hawaii (father Pono and mother Lisa), had 10 kills and 18 assists in an ealy-season match against USC.
Micah Ma’a, who had 18 assists and 10 kills in the USC match. Ma’a has been splitting setting duties with Hagen Smith, who dished out 24 assists in the same match. The Bruins were followed in the AVCA’s
Jan. 25 poll by No. 2 Long Beach State, No. 3 Brigham Young, No. 4 Loyola-Chicago. No. 5 Hawaii, No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Ohio States,
No. 8 Pepperdine, No. 9 Penn State and No. 9 UC Irvine. Long Beach State (7-1) was also off to a
fast start, splitting a pair of matches against preseason No. 1 Brigham Young. The 49ers were leaning heavily on freshman outside hitter T. J. DeFalco, who was averaging over four kills per set after seven matches.
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