Pacifica Stories

UCLA volleyball has won 19 national championships dating back to the early 1970s. The program is well-decorated and recognized. Elite players from around the world want to play for the Bruins. With that said, they had not won a title since 2006—a 17-year drought. For a number of years, people began to question and ponder what was going wrong. Alumni had championship rings, and UCLA is used to winning titles. Across all sports, UCLA has 121 championships. The team was very close in 2018, losing in the title game to Long Beach State. They were close last year, 2022, losing to Long Beach State again in the semi-finals. In fact, in that loss, Alex shanked a pass on the final point to lose the match. It was a hard way to end the season.

At the start of this season, the team posted a picture of the Long Beach loss in their locker room to remember the loss and to remind them of their goal. It worked. The team had a magical year, going 31–2. It was the best record since 1995. UCLA won the conference title and the conference tournament, beating the likes of Pepperdine, USC, Stanford, and BYU. Alex and five others were awarded all-conference honors. They avenged their loss from last year versus Long Beach State. The team lost an early match at Penn State and then a match at Hawaii in front of 10,000 very supportive Hawaii fans. At least they were in Hawaii. Not a bad place to lose.

Let’s talk about Hawaii. Hawaii has been the best team in collegiate volleyball for the past four years. A juggernaut and roster filled with all-Americans. They have won back-to-back NCAA titles and four years ago lost in the finals. This year, they were looking for a third title in a row with a group of veteran returners. Hawaii was ranked #1 in the country all year, and UCLA was right behind, ranked #2.

The championships this year were held on the East Coast at George Mason University in Virginia. During the tournament, the All-American banquet was held. Seven UCLA players were awarded all-American status. Alex received second-team all-American honors. Hawaii took home some serious hardware, with six players on the all-American team.

UCLA defeated foe Long Beach State in the semifinals, avenging their loss from the previous year. I suppose the locker room picture worked. Hawaii defeated Penn State in their semi-final match, setting up a final of #1 versus #2. The pressure was on. Would Hawaii win their third national title in a row, or was it time for UCLA to bring home their 20th title and end the 17-year drought? In front of 8,000 fans on a nationally televised game on ESPN, UCLA defeated Hawaii in what many experts say was one of the best finals in men’s volleyball history. U.S. Olympic gold medalist and ESPN analyst Paul Sunderland said the second set of the match was the best-played volleyball he had ever seen. It was a match between two titans, and it was time for UCLA’s 20th. Three members of UCLA’s team received all-tournament honors. Alex was awarded the 2023 NCAA tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Alex grew up playing multiple sports and found volleyball by accident; in the summer of 8th grade, on the beach in Santa Monica, the door to volleyball opened. He played baseball, basketball, and volleyball at Pacifica. He played club with Pac6 out of the Palisades and represented the United States on the U19 and U21 national teams in Costa Rica and Tunisia. His favorite team was the Pacifica boys’ volleyball team. At Pacifica, he played with his classmates and friends from middle school. With the UCLA season closed, he is a fan as the 2023 Pacifica boys enter the CIF championship title game and make a state tournament run. Go Bruins! Go Seawolves!