After losing last year’s Conference Player of the Year, the Bruins have pivoted their attention to freshman setter Andrew Rowan.

Rowan, who has become the blue and gold’s singular setter, has now stepped up in place of junior setter/opposite Miles Partain, who announced his departure from the program last week.

As the team is adjusting to its new setter, No. 2 UCLA men’s volleyball (11-1) is gearing up for a doubleheader against No. 8 BYU (8-2) on Friday at Pauley Pavilion and on Saturday at John Wooden Center. During the last two meetings between the sides in 2022, it was Partain who led the blue and gold to victory, contributing 41 assists in the first win followed by an all-time high of 58 in the second.

But Partain’s absence now leaves Rowan as the starting setter.

“You know it’s a tough position to be a setter, especially as a freshman,” said junior outside hitter Ethan Champlin. “But he’s earned that right to be confident in what he does because of his personality, his work ethic.”

Nevertheless, the Bruins have won both matchups since losing Partain.

The Bruins’ back-to-back contests against No. 3 Long Beach State saw the start of Rowan’s full-time position as the team’s setter, as he tallied 40 and 37 assists in the first and second match, respectively.

“We have confidence in him because he exudes confidence well, and he’s really focused during practice and during games,” Champlin said. “It’s easy to have trust in him knowing that he’s trying to make the right decisions and he’s putting his best effort, best focus in everything he does.”

Champlin himself played multiple years alongside Partain, having strengthened and matured their connection on the court. With that connection now lost, Champlin said he is focusing on building the same with Rowan.

“We practiced a lot in terms of our connection. I got to give him a lot of credit for my kills,” Champlin said. “Andrew’s got a great back set to the right side, so it’s never a one-man effort.”

The Bruins’ most recent matchup against Long Beach was one of Champlin’s best performances in the team’s 2023 campaign, with the junior notching 12 kills and four blocks. All but one of those kills were assisted by Rowan.

As UCLA heads into a pair of matches against a top-10 team this weekend, the Rowan-Champlin connection could continue to be integral. But, outside of its change at setter, the team will also have a chance to continue its streak of few service aces.

“It’s one of the most important things for us, especially because we have the talent to back it up when we’re not serving the best,” Rowan said. “But when we are on, we’re pretty unstoppable. So our goal is to always work on serving and get that down because we got some weapons from the line.”

The Bruins host the first of their BYU doubleheader in Pauley Pavilion at 7 p.m. on Friday before Saturday’s 5 p.m. matchup at John Wooden Center.