The BYU men’s volleyball team, ranked No. 8 nationally, will travel to play the top-ranked UCLA Bruins on Thursday and Saturday nights as the regular season comes to a close, according to an April 15 announcement.
These matches carry significant implications for conference seeding in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). The Cougars currently hold a record of 20-9 overall and are fourth in the MPSF with a 7-5 mark. USC is third at 9-3, while Stanford and Vanguard follow closely behind at 6-6 each.
BYU enters this week after splitting two home matches against No. 4 USC last weekend. The team holds the eighth-best hitting percentage in the country at .341 and ranks eleventh nationally with an average of 2.338 blocks per set. Setter Tyler Herget averages 10.37 assists per set this season—the fourth-highest figure nationwide—and has accumulated a career total of 2,668 assists, placing him sixth all-time in program history.
The Bruins come into these matchups with a strong record of 24-1 and share first place in the MPSF standings with Pepperdine at an identical conference mark of 11-1. Pepperdine remains the only team to have defeated UCLA this year, handing them their sole loss on April 2 before UCLA responded with four consecutive victories.
Statistically, UCLA leads all Division I teams in hitting percentage (.385), assists per set (12.88), ranks second in kills per set (13.66), and is fourth for aces per set (1.94). Andrew Rowan leads all players nationally with an average of 11.53 assists per set while Sean Kelly stands seventh overall for hitting percentage (.403). Zach Rama paces his squad with both total kills (286) and points per set (4.21) and has been named to the AVCA National Player of the Year Watch List.
Historically, BYU leads their series against UCLA by eight wins to six; however, when playing on UCLA’s home court in Los Angeles, BYU trails four games to one.
Both contests will be broadcast live on Big Ten Plus.
