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No, there was no biting, scratching or clawing between the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball coaches at their annual meeting on Friday in Provo, Utah. Just silence, as commissioner Al Beiard made a 10-minute opening address, calling for a moratorium on the coaches commenting on NCAA eligibility rulings. UCLA men’s volleyball coach Al Scates listened and “absolutely” plans to respect Beiard’s wishes. He also noted that he received feedback earlier in the week during UCLA’s practices at Smith Fieldhouse in regard to his controversial comments on BYU’s eligibility issues. “I received support from my fellow coaches with the exception of one or two,” Scates said. Other matters were in fact taken care of at the meeting. The coaches voted to recommend that beginning next postseason, the MPSF Tournament give a bye to the regular season conference champion, which would then have an extra week to promote the semifinals and final it would host. The No. 7- and No. 8-seeded teams would square off in a play-in match to face the No. 2-seeded team, and the teams would be reseeded following the first round. Currently, the remaining top seed after the first round of the tournament hosts the semifinals and final. Also, the coaches voted to recommend the allowance for a maximum of 13 players to play in a match, which is up from the current 12. Scates, whose teams traditionally have the most depth, proposed the rule change. The MPSF committee will have to approve both recommendations for them to change the rulebook.

ALL-AMERICAN SELECTIONS: Seniors Chris Peña and libero Adam Shrader were honored as All-Americans on Wednesday night at this year’s American Volleyball Coaches Association awards ceremony, which took place at the Final Four at Hawai’i. Shrader, UCLA’s all-time leader in digs, made the first team, and Peña, a middle blocker, was a second-team selection.

RICH GET RICHER: UCLA has signed Blake Taylor, a 6-foot-3 outside hitter out of Bullard High School (Fresno) and Nathan Bosza, a 6-foot-3 outside hitter out of El Toro High, to national letters of intent. Taylor and Bosza join an incoming class that already includes Jamie Diefenbach, a 6-foot-8 middle blocker from Newport Harbor, Tony Ker, a 5-foot-11 outside hitter/libero from Valencia, and D.J. Stromath, a 6-foot-8 middle blocker from Manhattan Beach.

With reports from Sagar Parikh, Bruin Sports contributor.