Six Bruins Earn All-MPSF MVB Honors

Six Bruins --- Merrick McHenry, Ethan Champlin, Andrew Rowan, Grant Sloane, Cooper Robinson, Sean McQuiggan --- received All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) honors in an announcement on Tuesday by the league office following a vote by the MPSF coaches.
 
McHenry was named the 2024 MPSF Player of the Year becoming UCLA's sixth overall recipient of the honor. The Bruin middle blocker joins Miles Partain (2022), Brandon Taliaferro (2000), Stein Metzger (1996) and Jeff Nygaard (1995, 1994) in being recognized as the best-of-the best in the MPSF.

McHenry is the first middle blocker to earn MPSF Player of the Year honors since 2002 when Pepperdine's Brad Keenan took home the honors. The redshirt senior, who was also named to the All-MPSF first-team, is on pace to become the first Bruin player, since the start of rally scoring in 2001, to complete his men's volleyball career with an attack average of over .500. He currently leads the MPSF with a .577 mark and has recorded at least a .400 hitting percentage in each of the last 23 matches on the year. In addition, McHenry has become UCLA's all-time leader in block solos during the 2024 campaign and enters post-season play with 48 solo stuffs. He ranks 13th nationally to begin the week in blocking average at 0.99/set.
 
Champlin, like McHenry, is a four-time All-MPSF honoree and was also named to the first-team. The senior lined up at both libero and outside hitter this season and led the team in kills (208) and digs (136). Champlin paced the team with 13 double-digit kill matches on the season and his total of 17 digs in a win against Long Beach State was the most by a Bruin player since 2016. Earlier this year, he was named as a semifinalist for the AAU Sullivan Award given to the top amateur athlete in the United States.
 
Rowan was the third Bruin to earn first-team honors. The setter has guided the Bruins to the top hitting percentage in the nation this season at .373. His set assist average of 10.14 rates ninth-best in the nation. Rowan also led the Bruins with 36 aces, including 12 matches with multiple service winners. Fifteen times this season, he set the team to at least a .350 attack percentage. He also registered at least one kill in 23 of the 25 matches he has played in this year.
 
Sloane and Robinson were both named to the second team. Sloane finished the regular season with at least one ace in each of the last nine contests he saw action in. He tallied 20 aces on the season, with a career-best four last week against CUI. Sloane hit .331 for the year. Robinson had 10 double-digit kill matches this season, including a back-to-back 20-kill efforts in a pair of wins over UC Irvine. He produced 30 aces on the season and rated seventh among MPSF players with a 0.39 aces per set average.
 
Middle blocker Sean McQuiggan earned honorable mention honors in his first season as a starter. He hit .562 for the season with eight aces and 52 total blocks. His 1.13 blocks per set average was the highest among players on the team in the regular playing rotation.
 
The Bruins will return to the court next in the semifinal round of the MPSF Tournament being held at the Galen Center on Thursday. First serve is slated for 4:35 p.m. as UCLA will take on the lowest-seeded team advancing from the quarterfinal round.