Micah Ma'a and Daenan Gyimah each earned National Men's Volleyball Player of the Week honors for their play this past week in Bruin straight set wins over No. 7 UC Irvine and UC San Diego. Ma'a was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Div. I-II Men's Volleyball Player of the Week and Gyimah was selected the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Freshman of the Week.
Ma'a, a sophomore setter / opposite from Kaneohe, Hawai'I smashed eight kills on a career-high .800 hitting percentage in the victory over UCI. He also recorded 17 set assists, seven digs and three service aces. As a team, UCLA hit .395 against the Anteaters. Ma'a followed that effort up with a 21-set assist, six-dig outing against the Tritons. The No. 2-ranked Bruin team hit a season-best .557 versus UC San Diego and tied a school record with seven aces in the second set of the match, three coming from Ma'a. He also tallied a couple of block assists in the win.
Gyimah hammered 14 kills while hitting .737 versus UC Irvine. The freshman middle blocker from Scarborough, Ontario, Canada added two kills and hit .500 against UC San Diego. He racked up a total of six blocks in the two contests.
Ma'a begins the week ranked tied for 15th in the nation in blocks per set (1.06). Gyimah is ranked fourth in the nation in hitting percentage (.560) and is tied for sixth in blocks per set (1.17). The Bruin team is ranked second in the nation in hitting percentage (.375) and will host a pair of MPSF matches this week against Cal Baptist on Wednesday night in Pauley (7:30 p.m.) and USC on Friday night in Pauley (8 p.m.)
Team Recap
January 12: No. 7 UC Irvine, W 3-0
January 14: UC San Diego, W 3-0