Briefs: Former ‘Eaters Smith, Clark compete in USA Volleyball Cup

UC Irvine men’s volleyball alumni David Smith and Carson Clark are on the U.S. men’s national team roster for the first match of the USA Volleyball Cup, which is coming to UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center on Aug. 16.

The match at UCI, which will begin at 6 p.m., was originally scheduled for UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, before a water main break flooded that facility last week.

The USA Volleyball Cup is four exhibition matches between Team USA and Iran, designed to help both teams prepare for the FIVB Men’s World Championship on Aug. 30-Sept. 21 in Poland. Smith and Clark are on the roster for the first match, which is Saturday at USC’s Galen Center.

The Bren is the fourth of four stops, as Team USA and Iran also will play Wednesday at the Anaheim Convention Center and Friday at San Diego State.

Smith, a 2012 Olympian, earned first-team All-American honors in 2007 while helping UC Irvine to its first NCAA Championship. As a senior, the middle blocker led the nation with a .559 hitting percentage, which is a UCI season record. He is the UCI career leader in block assists (471) and total blocks (520).

Clark was a member of two of UCI’s NCAA Championships in 2009 and 2012, earning Most Outstanding Player honors of the of the 2012 NCAA Championship. The opposite became the first player in MPSF history to be named to the league’s first-team all four years, and made UCI history becoming the first Anteater to earn AVCA All-American honors all four years. He ended his career as UCI’s all-time leader in kills with 1,847.

The U.S. men are ranked No. 4 in the world and won the FIVB World League championship last month.

— From staff reports

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Future ‘Eater shines

UC Irvine women’s water polo recruit Mary Brooks will represent the United States in the FINA World Youth Championship, Aug. 24-31 in Madrid, Spain.

Brooks, a four-time All-CIF performer at Clovis West High, helped the U.S. junior national team win the UANA Junior Pan Am Championship in early July in Riverside.

The Americans won all six of their matches in Riverside, including an 11-6 triumph over Brazil in the final. Brooks scored once in the title contest and had nine goals in the tournament.

Brooks, an attacker, set school records at Clovis West for career goals (415), assists (181) and steals (319) and helped the school claim a CIF central section title in 2013.

In Spain, Team USA faces Hungary (Aug. 25), South Africa (Aug. 26) and Germany (Aug. 27) in preliminary rounds. The elimination rounds begin Aug. 29 and the championship is set to be decided Aug. 31.

— From staff reports

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UCI golfer honored

Bhuvan Potluri, who recently completed his junior season with the UC Irvine men’s golf team, was named a 2014 Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar.

Potluri had a 75.20 stroke average for the Anteaters this past season with a top finish of 11th in the Anteater Invitational. He placed 39th at the Big West Championship.

Potluri is majoring in business information management at UCI.

He is a two-time UCI Scholar-Athlete and was a member of the Big West Academic All-Conference team for spring sports this past year.

To be eligible for All-America Scholar status, an individual must be a junior or senior academically, compete in at least three full years at the collegiate level, participate in half of his team’s competitive rounds, have a stroke-average better than 76 and maintain a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.2. A recipient must also be of high moral character and be in good standing at his college or university.

— From staff reports