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UCLA men’s volleyball prepares for ranked matchups with Southern California teams

Freshman outside hitter/opposite Ido David hits the ball against a UC Irvine block Saturday. David was named the AVCA Division I-II Men’s Player of the Week on Monday. (Vivian Xu/Daily Bruin senior staff)

Men's Volleyball


No. 14 UC San Diego
Wednesday, 7 p.m.

La Jolla
ESPN+
No. 1 Long Beach State
Friday, 7 p.m.

Long Beach
ESPN+

By Bryan Palmero

Feb. 9, 2022 2:13 p.m.

A battle between the top-two teams in the country is set to take place in February.

No. 2 UCLA men’s volleyball (6-1) will take on No. 14 UC San Diego (3-4) in La Jolla on Wednesday before going down the I-405 to face No. 1 Long Beach State (6-1) on Friday. The contest against the Beach will feature the first matchup this season between the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked programs after both teams rose up two places in the national rankings Monday.

The last time the top-two programs in the country matched up was nearly a year ago, when then-No. 1 Hawai’i swept then-No. 2 BYU in the 2021 NCAA championship.

UCLA has faced Long Beach State 49 times in school history and currently holds a 20-29 record heading into Friday’s contest. The Bruins fell to the Beach in the 2018 NCAA championship, a finals matchup between the then-No. 3 and then-No. 1 programs, respectively.

As UCLA heads into its contests this week to close out its nonconference schedule, coach John Speraw said his team’s starters will begin to be defined.

“(We’ll have to) try to solidify (the lineup) to some degree so that we can maximize our ability for offensive connection and specificity in training,” Speraw said.

UCLA has rolled out a different starting lineup against each of its opponents this season, having used the same starters twice for a home-and-home series against UC Irvine this past weekend.

Sophomore setter/opposite Miles Partain and freshman outside hitter/opposite Ido David were two Bruins who started both matches against the Anteaters.

After setting a career high in assists with 52 against UC Irvine on Saturday in addition to a 50-assist performance the day prior versus the Anteaters, Partain said he has found a rhythm with his offense.

“It was great,” Partain said. “Hitters are great, and it’s fun to see some improvement.”

A beneficiary of Partain’s passing, David also saw new personal bests in kills in the weekend series, knocking down 39 total kills on a 0.424 hitting percentage across the two matches.

David paced the Bruins in kills and total attacks during the two matches to help UCLA leave the weekend undefeated. The freshman outside hitter/opposite said his team worked on its chemistry to come out with the two wins.

“We just build a lot of energy, a lot of positivity,” David said. “We just went to the court to fight on every ball and to win the game.”

For his performance across the two matches, David was named the AVCA Division I-II Men’s Player of the Week. Through seven contests this season, David is ranked fifth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in kills.

The Bruins will take on the Tritons on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and the Beach on Friday at 7 p.m.

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Bryan Palmero | Daily Bruin senior staff
Palmero is a senior staff writer for Sports. He served as the assistant Sports editor on the softball, beach volleyball, women's volleyball, men's volleyball and men's golf beats from 2021-2022 and a Sports reporter on the beach volleyball and women's volleyball beats in 2021. He is a third-year mathematics and economics student.
Palmero is a senior staff writer for Sports. He served as the assistant Sports editor on the softball, beach volleyball, women's volleyball, men's volleyball and men's golf beats from 2021-2022 and a Sports reporter on the beach volleyball and women's volleyball beats in 2021. He is a third-year mathematics and economics student.
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