Men’s Volleyball: UCI rallies past USC
The UC Irvine men’s volleyball team doesn’t push the panic button as much as it punches the alarm clock and goes to work.
The No. 2-ranked and top-seeded Anteaters used a familiar pattern to rally for a 22-25, 25-17, 25-23, 16-25, 15-11 victory over No. 8-ranked and No. 4-seeded USC in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament on Thursday at the Bren Events Center.
It marked the seventh consecutive time that UCI (27-4) prevailed after falling in the opening set. It was the ninth straight win and the 18th in the last 19 matches for the MPSF regular-season champions, who advance to the title match against Pepperdine on Friday at 7 p.m.
The No. 5-ranked Waves (24-5) upset No. 3-ranked Hawaii, 21-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-16, in the other semifinal.
UCI, which will attempt to win its third MPSF Tournament crown — and the resulting automatic bid into the six-team NCAA Championships next week — split its two matches with Pepperdine this season.
The Anteaters, who split their first two matches with the Trojans, both in five sets, turned it on in the deciding fifth game, with a vocal crowd of 2,835 providing plenty of energy and fuel.
USC (19-9) jumped to leads of 3-0 and 5-2 in the fifth set, but UCI, which is 6-2 in five-set matches this season, kept scrambling and swinging and watching USC hitters direct kill attempts out of bounds.
Three straight USC hitting errors gave UCI a 7-6 advantage. And, after the Trojans tied it at 7-7, senior opposite Zack La Cavera, the MPSF Player of the Year, boomed a bump set by senior libero Michael Brinkley for an 8-7 lead.
Sophomore outside hitter Tamir Hershko had back-to-back kills to create a 10-7 advantage and the Trojans never got closer than two.
Kills by Hershko, La Cavera and sophomore middle blocker Andrew Benz helped UCI build a 13-10 lead and an ace by Hershko put the hosts up, 14-10.
After UCI’s 20th service error of the match gave USC a point, La Cavera cashed in another Brinkley bump set to propel the ‘Eaters to the final.
La Cavera had 25 kills to pace the winners, who received 15 kills from Hershko.
Junior middle blocker Jason Agopian had nine kills, while Benz added eight and led his team with a .583 hitting percentage.
UCI hit .257 as a team, 35 points better than the Trojans, who posted a 9-6 advantage in total blocks.
Brinkley, a two-time All-American, had a match-high 19 digs, while La Cavera added 13.
Benz had four block assists and one solo block, while senior outside hitter Travis Woloson had three block assists to go with his seven kills for the winners.
UCI’s bid for a second triumph over USC in three matches (all five-gamers), received a boost late in the third set, when sophomore Michael Saeta replaced senior Roberto Frazzoni at setter. Saeta, who had started 24 matches coming in, but had been relegated to a designated server the last handful of contests, served back-to-back aces to erase a 17-15 lead for the Trojans (19-9).
Saeta then helped the hosts persevere through a 23-21 deficit to take a 2-1 set advantage.
A Woloson roll shot off the block pulled UCI within 23-22 and USC senior middle blocker Robert Feathers cranked a kill attempt into the net to knot it at 23-23.
A booming kill by UCI’s La Cavera triggered yet another raucous roar from the crowd and created set point.
Hershko then banged a kill off the block to close out the set and put UCI in control, two sets to one.
In the opening set, USC overcame nine service errors and a 15-12 deficit and scored six of the final eight points of the game to break on top.
The Anteaters missed five serves and hit .176 with six hitting errors, double the total it posted in a three-set thumping of UCLA in the quarterfinal.
UCI, which leads the nation in kills per set and hitting percentage (3.91 and .361, respectively coming in), bounced back in the second set by hitting .481 to the Trojans’ .130 clip.