With its matchup against the No. 1 team in the nation – Hawai’i – looming, the blue and gold extended its win streak with a sweep of the Eagles.

Marking its seventh consecutive and 17th overall victory of the season, No. 2 UCLA men’s volleyball (17-1, 4-0 MPSF) dominated its doubleheader against Concordia University Irvine (5-11, 0-4). Commanding the service, blocking, kill and dig battle, the Bruins culminated the series with two clean sweeps.

Controlling the serving and passing game has been indispensable and decisive for the Bruins, an element of play that has become their nucleus.

Redshirt junior middle blocker Merrick McHenry said he recognizes this component of volleyball as the cornerstone for success on the court.

“Men’s volleyball is such a serve and pass game,” McHenry said. “It comes down to who is going to serve better, who is going to use their serve to put more pressure on their opponents and who is going to pass better and this is something that we talk about a lot.”

After seven straight games tallying single-digit service aces, the blue and gold posted 13 in Friday’s matchup, its second-best of the season. Concurrently, it managed to limit its opponents to just four.

In his second start of the season, freshman outside hitter Zach Rama tied a team-high three aces.

“Serving was great tonight,” said junior outside hitter Ethan Champlin. “I don’t know what it was about the gym because normally it’s bigger but who knows, maybe it helped out a little bit. We had good serving production from everybody and that’s where the trademark of our team is.”

The Bruins tallied five less service errors Friday than in their last matchup with Concordia, recording one of their best service performances in their 2023 campaign.

While the blue and gold managed to secure a .453 hitting percentage, its opponent was limited to just .197 in the night, including zero in the first frame. Redshirt senior libero Troy Gooch credits this figure once again to the team’s execution on the service.

“We served the ball really well,” Gooch said. “We got them out of their system a lot and that gets them off the net.”

Led by a season-high 13 digs from Gooch, the Bruins notched 27 digs on the night. After ten straight games in the single-digits, Gooch proved himself pivotal to the Bruins’ defense, keeping the squad alive in the midst of scrappy back-and-forths and notching his best dig performance with the blue and gold.

“He’s really added to our defense and communicates very, very well on passing,” said coach John Speraw. “He continues to improve his command of responsibilities and systems on the volleyball court and has done a tremendous job.”

Regardless of his impressive individual performance, Gooch attributes his defensive efforts and impacts to his team.

“I really credit it to the guys around me in the block,” Gooch said. “Coach has been preaching defense and how going down the stretch the rest of the season we got to be resilient with our defense and dig more balls because that’s what’s gonna lead to us winning more of these gritty matches.”

By now, the multi-faceted depth and strength of the blue and gold manifests itself during each contest. Aside from Gooch’s notable defensive play, Champlin emerged with a season-high .750 hitting percentage alongside an efficient nine kills and zero errors on the offensive end of the court. Rama added to that figure with a match-high 11 kills, and three digs of his own.

Champlin’s repeated and invariable contributions to the Bruins offense is second to his control and command on court, according to Speraw.

“He’s a steady influence on the group,” Speraw said. “Even if he is not hitting, he definitely has such an impact on everybody’s level of performance with his passing, with his ability to communicate responsibilities on the court, he’s very vocal, he’s a good leader for the group.”

Ahead of matchups against the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the nation during the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational, the Bruins have procured yet another milestone with their best start since 1998 with seventeen wins under their belt.

As exciting and rewarding as the wins are, Gooch recognizes the importance in the squad’s bigger-picture hopes.

“It’s really exciting and good for the team but we have a lot higher goals than that,” Gooch said. “Goal is to win a national championship.”