Men’s Volleyball: UCI runs Bruins off the court
The UC Irvine men’s volleyball team has prided itself on its ability to plug whatever personnel leaks arise in any given match. But in a dominant 25-17, 25-18, 25-15 thumping of visiting UCLA in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday, the Anteaters were virtually water tight.
No. 2-ranked UCI, the MPSF regular-season champion and tournament top seed, hit .481 as a team with just three hitting errors in 79 total attacks to run the Bruins, led by former UCI head man John Speraw, off the court and into Thursday’s semifinals at home against USC.
“The nice thing about our run this season is, we’ve had so many different guys step up at so many different times,” UCI Coach David Kniffin said. “So, on the off chance that everyone is actually clicking at once, we’re pretty good. And even if we’re not, we kind of know what changes we need to make.”
The size of UCI’s lead was about the only thing that changed against the No. 12-ranked Bruins, who were the No. 8 seed in the MPSF Tournament. UCLA’s first lead was at 7-6 of Game 2 and its final advantage was at 12-11 in the same game.
Trailing, 12-10, in the second game, UCI went on a 10-2 run to establish command and virtually cruised the rest of the way. It was the 14th three-game sweep of the season for the ‘Eaters
Senior opposite Zach La Cavera paced the winners with 13 kills and hit .500, while sophomore outside hitter Tamir Hershko hit .556 to record 10 kills.
Additional trouble for the Bruins were senior outside hitter Travis Woloson (nine kills and a .471 efficiency rate), junior middle blocker Jason Agopian and sophomore middle blocker Andrew Benz, who both hit .500 and combined for nine kills.
La Cavera, the MPSF Player of the Year, added seven digs, three block assists and one ace serve, while Hershko blasted three aces and chipped in three digs and one block assist.
UCI (26-4) posted an 8-1 advantage in team blocks, helping limit UCLA (13-14) to a .202 hitting percentage.
UCI senior two-time All-American libero Michael Brinkley had a match-best 11 digs while adding five assists to senior setter Roberto Frazzoni’s 28 assists.
“Only three hitting errors isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty darn close,” La Cavera said. “But obviously we’re going to keep striving. Now, we have to focus on USC.
La Cavera, Brinkley, Woloson and Agopian were all recruited to UCI under Speraw, who guided the ‘Eaters to three of their four national championships before departing for Westwood after the 2012 NCAA title campaign.
Conversely, UCLA’s starting seven included four freshmen and a sophomore, including MPSF Freshman of the Year J.T. Hatch, who led the visitors with 13 kills.
“They had younger guys over there, but that’s a good [UCLA] team and we couldn’t take them lightly,” La Cavera said after UCI swept the three-match series with UCLA, winning nine of 10 games. “We didn’t come into this match thinking any less of them because they were freshmen and sophomores. We have to worry about our side of the net.”
Said Kniffin: “I think we kind of knew what we needed to do, because we had done it twice already this season [against UCLA]. For us, it’s more of a check on maturity and discipline than anything else.”
The dominant performance, Kniffin said, was also a byproduct of earning the home-court advantage, which UCI will enjoy throughout the tournament.
“The biggest thing for us is just reminding [the players] that they earned this opportunity,” Kniffin said. “We earned the opportunity to host and be in front of a crowd of [1,923] and we need to not be afraid to utilize that as part of our strength. This feels big for us and [the home crowd] gives us some extra energy. We need to know that we’ve earned the opportunity to chase greatness.”
Greatness has averted UCI in its previous two chances as the top seed in the MPSF Tournament. It lost at home in the semifinals in 2009 and 2006. It won MPSF crowns in 2012 (at USC’s Galen Center) and 2007 (at Pepperdine).
This is the sixth time in the last seven seasons that UCLA, which claimed the last of its record 19 NCAA titles in 2006, has been eliminated in the quarterfinals. In Speraw’s first season in 2013, UCLA lost in the MPSF semifinals.
“Whenever you can beat UCLA, that’s really awesome,” said Brinkley, whose 1,066 digs are 90 shy of tying UCI career leader Brent Asuka. “Their coach is really good and they always strategize really well. I played for [Speraw] as a freshman, so it’s kind of cool that we were able to beat them I the [quarterfinals].”
One of UCI’s three home losses this season was to USC, which posted a 28-30, 25-17, 21-25, 25-23, 15-13 triumph on Jan. 23. UCI rallied for a 20-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-17, 15-13 win at USC on March 3.