The 2015 season will likely go down in the storied history of UCLA men’s volleyball as a rebuilding year in every sense of the term. With four starting freshmen and only one starting upperclassman, the Bruins’ youth became their defining – and often limiting – characteristic. Read more...

Photo: Sophomore middle blocker Mitch Stahl finished fourth on UCLA with 135 kills this season. Stahl was one of five underclassmen to play a consistent starting role for a young Bruin team this year. UCLA showed its youth at times, finishing the season 13-14 and ranked No. 12 in the nation. Austin Yu/Daily Bruin senior staff)

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)