‘Eaters surprise 49ers

IRVINE — In accordance with finals week, the UC Irvine men’s volleyball team was presented with multiple choices during its 12-day layoff that ended Thursday against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation-leading Long Beach State.

The Anteaters could either pursue the promise Coach John Speraw has proclaimed for them all season — as a team that could ultimately beat any team in the nation — or merely continue its inconsistent path along the precipice of earning one of eight berths into the upcoming conference tournament.

After the first two games Thursday, it appeared the latter was in order as the visiting 49ers (19-4, 14-3 in conference), ranked No. 3 in the nation, posted a pair of impressive wins.

But No. 9-ranked UCI (12-12, 8-9) had another option in mind as it rallied for a 22-30, 22-30, 30-26, 30-27, 15-12 triumph that, as much as anything this season, shows them that in the proper time and place, they can defend their NCAA championship with purpose and poise.

“Long Beach is one of the top teams in the country and it’s playing well right now,” said UCI junior opposite Jon Steller, who led the winners with 26 kills and hit .500 for the match. “I think this gives us a huge confidence boost and, hopefully, we can carry that into this next week when we play [Cal State] Northridge, which is now No. 1.”

Steller was a consistent force at the net all night, but a lineup adjustment in which Speraw inserted Anthony Spittle at setter and Taylor Wilson at outside hitter after the first two games, seemed to help the Anteaters find their rhythm.

“I thought Anthony gave us some nice consistency,” Speraw said of the freshman who finished with a team-best 30 assists. “I thought he set a very nice match. And it wasn’t even that [junior Ryan Ammerman, who started and produced 25 assists] set a poor match. I don’t think we were passing very well [in the first two games]. It’s just that when you’re down, 0-2, you want to change things up.”

Speraw also wanted to see Wilson — a 6-foot-7 junior who started as a sophomore, but has battled ankle problems that have sidelined him for much of this season — in the lineup at the same time as the 6-7 Steller.

“We practiced that lineup this week, but we’d never seen it in a match, so I was glad to get a look at it,” Speraw said.

With Wilson’s passing (10 digs, bettered only by junior libero Brent Asuka’s 12) and his veteran hitting savvy (seven kills and a .278 percentage), the Anteaters finally asserted themselves.

UCI had led only once in the first game (3-2) and the second game (2-1), as the 49ers looked every bit the team that had already swept the ’Eaters twice this season.

But the hosts played the visitors virtually even in Game 3, before pulling away from a 20-20 deadlock on its way to a four-point triumph.

In Game 4, UCI pulled away after being deadlocked at 12, setting up a Game 5 that had not been kind to the ’Eaters all season.

“We’ve had four five-game matches before tonight and we’d lost all of them,” Steller said.

But this time, something was different.

“We had some poise and that was nice to see,” Speraw said. “I’ve always felt we have the potential to be a good volleyball team, we just need to put it together. That’s one of the better teams in the MPSF, and if we play good volleyball, we’re capable of beating anyone in the MPSF. We just need to play consistently high-level volleyball for long periods of time and we haven’t been able to do that very often this season.”

UCI freshman middle Kevin Wynne posted a kill to set up match point and, after a UCI serving error, freshman Cory Yoder (14 kills) caromed a kill off a blocker to give UCI its first five-game win this season.

“I sure hope this is a turning point for us,” said Speraw, whose team entered the match in seventh place in the MPSF. “I think finals week gave us a chance to take a breath and regroup and reevaluate where we are and where we need to go. We committed ourselves to these next [now five] matches [to conclude the regular season].”

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].