At a level of competition that brings out the best, overcoming each obstacle takes considerably more power, energy and grit than the last.

And with each challenge, the team is forced to look inside themselves and find out what type of competitors they truly are.

All roads lead to Columbus, Ohio, as No. 3 seed UCLA men’s volleyball (20-6, 10-2 MPSF) takes on No. 6 seed Belmont Abbey (17-8, 12-2 Conference Carolinas) on Thursday in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals. The Bruins enter Ohio with the opportunity to claim their 22nd national title and three-peat for the first time since winning four in a row from 1981 to 1984.

Despite an early exit in the MPSF semifinals at the hands of Pepperdine, UCLA remains experienced on the national stage with a balanced attack.

Led by four AVCA All-Americans, including redshirt junior outside hitter and MPSF Player of the Year Cooper Robinson, the Bruins are third in the nation by team hitting percentage with a .367 clip, 10th in kills per set with 12.51 and 13th in assists per set with 11.62 – all while holding opponents to a .226 hitting percentage.

And first-year UCLA head coach John Hawks has helmed his squad to its third-straight regular season conference title.

Supporting Hawks on the hardwood, Robinson leads the team in kills, digs and service aces – with 335, 111 and 37, respectively – while his .387 hitting percentage is 11th in the country. Junior setter Andrew Rowan has continued his Bruin career by averaging over 10 assists per set and gaining his third AVCA All-American nomination in as many years in Westwood. And junior middle blocker Cameron Thorne has been a sparkplug in the frontcourt, ranking 13th nationally in blocks per set with 1.06 while posting a .530 clip.

“It’s been fun with this new group,” Thorne said. “There’s a lot of talent on this team, so when working in the lab with these guys, they make my job a lot easier because they do their jobs so well.”

Without senior outside hitter/opposite Ido David, the rest of the Bruin squad, notably junior outside hitter Zach Rama and freshman outside hitter Sean Kelly, have been able to fill in the gaps.

“He’s (Kelly is) so consistent and does his job great,” Rama said. “He’s got a cool, calm, collected sense about him. … People have been injured, and he’s answered the call.”

However, as UCLA discovered from this postseason, fortunes can quickly change amid the chaos of a tournament. And going against a scrappy, defensively minded Belmont Abbey squad, the Bruins may have reason to tread carefully and stay sharp.

The Crusaders punched their ticket to the NCAA tournament by sweeping Mount Olive in the Conference Carolinas title game.

Led by the conference tournament’s Most Valuable Player Zach Puentes and middle blocker Jibriel Elhaddad, Belmont Abbey ranks sixth nationally in blocks per set with 2.49 and holds opponents to a .187 hitting percentage, ranked third in the nation and second among NCAA tournament teams.

Elhaddad himself posts 1.157 blocks per set, seventh-most in the nation, and his team posts 11.35 assists per set and 12.42 kills per set, the 23rd and 15th marks in the country, respectively.

With its efficiency and star power, UCLA is favored to win on paper. However, within the chaos of the postseason anything can happen – if the Crusaders can shake the Bruins early and capitalize on unforced errors, they could hang around longer than expected.

“I feel like, for us, it’s about believing on our side and trusting what our guys do,” Hawks said. “It’s about standing together as a unit.”

The winner of this match will advance to face either No. 2 seed Hawai’i or No. 7 seed Penn State on Saturday in the national semifinal.