Palisadians Pace Rival Teams

The UCLA men’s volleyball team reached its third straight NCAA final in May thanks to the contributions of a pair of Palisadians—redshirt junior outside hitter Cooper Robinson and sophomore middle blocker Spencer Graves.

Robinson led the team in kills (365), digs (120) and aces (41), was second in sets played (103) and blocks (63) and was third in assists (41). Graves had a kill, a dig and three aces in 10 matches. The Bruins finished 22-7 but were denied a three-peat by Long Beach State, which swept the championship match 25-17, 25-23, 25-21 on May 12 in Columbus, Ohio.

Robinson was chosen Player of the Year in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, the seventh Bruin to be so honored and the second hailing from Pacific Palisades (Palisades High graduate and beach volleyball Olympian Miles Partain was the first in 2022). He had double-digit kill totals 18 times in the regular season. He was an all-conference second team selection in 2024.

Across town, fellow Palisades resident Dillon Klein powered USC to the MPSF title match after finishing first on the squad in kills (338) and kills per set (3.84) and adding 107 digs, 18 aces and 65 blocks in 88 sets. The Trojans’ junior outside hitter joined Robinson on the MPSF first team after earning second team honors in 2023 and 2024.

Robinson, Graves and Klein all starred at Loyola under head coach Mike Boehle. Robinson led the Cubs to the Southern Section semifinals in 2018, 2019 and 2021 and was named to the 2020 Boys 25 Underclassmen to Watch List by Volleyballmag.com. Klein was picked CIF Co-Player of the Year as a senior in 2022 and was a member of the 2020 USA Boys Youth National Training Team. Graves helped the Cubs capture the SoCal regional crown in 2023 while hitting over .600 as a senior and led his Manhattan Beach Surf club squad to the AAU 18 Open national championship.