For a UCLA team playing some of its best volleyball of the 2015 season, Saturday night was something of a letdown. No. 8-seed UCLA (13-14, 9-13 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), already guaranteed to have a challenge on its hands in No. Read more...

Photo: Freshman setter Eric Matheis was responsible for 29 of the 30 assists for UCLA in the team’s season-ending loss to UC Irvine. (Hannah Ye/Daily Bruin)

Brad Keller stood above the fray at volleyball practice Wednesday morning in Pauley Pavilion. Standing 10 feet tall on a ball cannon, the assistant coach aimed and fired volleyballs at freshmen Jake Arnitz and J.T. Read more...

Photo: Freshman outside hitter Jake Arnitz rises for a serve in UCLA’s game against UC Irvine on April 10, which the Bruins lost 3-1. (Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin senior staff)

Eric Matheis had to grow up quickly. A freshman on a rebuilding UCLA men’s volleyball team, the setter stayed on the bench for the opening weeks of the conference season. Read more...

Photo: Eric Matheis (right) started the last seven matches of the season after sophomore Hagen Smith went down with a hand injury. The freshman setter will help guide the Bruin offense in the playoffs. (Hannah Ye/Daily Bruin)

UCLA men’s volleyball traveled to Stanford on Friday night in a last-ditch effort to sneak into the 2015 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament. There was nothing sneaky, however, about the visiting Bruins’ 3-0 sweep of the Cardinal. Read more...

Photo: Freshman Eric Matheis (left) sets the ball to redshirt junior middle blocker Trent Kersten for one of his 45 assists in the Bruins 3-0 sweep of the Cardinal to clinch the eighth and final spot of the conference tournament. (Hannah Ye/Daily Bruin)

As practice wound down Wednesday night in Pauley Pavilion, UCLA men’s volleyball redshirt freshman middle blocker Eric Sprague elevated for a kill. His palm connected perfectly with the volleyball, setting it on a course to slam down into the hardwood floor on the other side of the net. Read more...

Photo: Redshirt freshman middle blocker Eric Sprague said the Bruins have been developing into a blocking team this season. (Hannah Ye/Daily Bruin)

UCLA men’s volleyball enters its final game of the season Friday, vying for a postseason berth with a win over No. 14 Stanford. With their eyes on the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament, the Bruins will look to execute on the one aspect of the game that has given them trouble all season: serving. Read more...

Photo: Sophomore middle blocker Mitch Stahl said UCLA served well in the only set it won against UC Irvine, but struggled from the service line otherwise. (Max Himmelrich/Daily Bruin)