Long-Beach
Long Beach State 49ers (Big West) remained No.1 in the NCAA Championship with a 14-0 record as they outplayed No.2 UCLA Bruins (14-3; Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) on the road at the Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California, by a 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 25-21). At the same time, Long Beach inflicted the first home defeat to the UCLA since the Bruins had a 9-0 in front of own fans prior to the game. Junior outside hitter TJ DeFalco topped the 49ers with 23 kills, hitting .500. The Danish freshman Simon Anderson added 4 kill blocks. Senior outside hitter JT Hatch and freshman opposite Grant Maleski made 13 kills apiece for the UCLA.
No.6 BYU (11-4, 4-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) cruised to an away 3-1 (33-31, 25-27, 25-23, 25-21) win against the conference rivals Stanford, who are currently out of Top 15 that will be considered by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) for announcing seeds for the Opening Round, with a 3-12 record (1-3 MPSF). The Puerto Rican freshman opposite Gabi García Fernández tallied 18 kills (0.333 hitting percentage). Senior middle blocker Price Jarman made 8 kill blocks of 24 that Cougars collected as a team, while senior outside hitter Storm Fa’agata-Tufuga served 5 aces. As for the Cardinal, freshman opposite Jaylen Jasper made 22 kills (.286 hitting percentage).
The 2018 NCAA Men’s Volleyball post-season ranking, last updated on February 19 (ncaa.com):
NCAA ranking
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