Slippin' Past Santa Barbara

Brent Asuka

Story @ http://ucirvinesports.cstv.com/sports/m-volley/recaps/021209aaa.html

UC Irvine Slips Past UC Santa Barbara, 3-2
Wynne recordeds career-high 14 kills; Asuka has season-high 18 digs

Feb. 11, 2009

Final Stats

Irvine, Calif. – Third-ranked UC Irvine needed to go the distance to escape with a win over No. 12 UC Santa Barbara, 3-2 (30-28, 27-30, 30-32, 31-29, 15-12) at the Bren Events Center Wednesday.

Defense was key as UC Santa Barbara recorded 62 digs for the match behind Mike Runkle’s match-high 22. UCI started slow at the net, but ended the night out-blocking the Gauchos, 18.5 to 14.5.

UC Irvine had a balanced attack with Jordan DuFault leading the Anteaters with a double-double, 15 kills and 12 digs. Jon Steller and Kevin Wynne each added 14 kills, a career-high for Wynne who hit .650 (14-1-20) in the middle. Taylor Wilson added 13 kills, while libero Brent Asuka had a seasn-high 18 digs in the win. Setters Ryan Ammerman and Anthony Spittle tallied 38 and 27 set assists, respectively with Ammerman recording seven digs. Freshman Austin D’Amore tied his career-best with seven block assist to lead UCI with eight total blocks followed by Wynne with seven total blocks.

UC Santa Barbara’s Jeff Menzel led all players with 27 kills. Cullen Irons had 15 kills and 11 digs, while Scott Slaughter recorded 12 kills and a match-high 10 total blocks. Setter Vince Devany recorded 69 set assists and 12 digs in the loss.

UCSB jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the first set before UCI rallied behind the serving of Bryan Simmons to take a 10-9 advantage on a Jordan DuFault kill. UCI continued to lead 21-17 before UCSB went on a 5-1 run to tie the score at 22-22. UCI would use a kill by Jon Steller and a Gauchos attack error to go up 29-27. Following a kill by Sam Moisenco, Steller ended the set with a kill, 30-28. Taylor Wilson paced UCI with six kills, while Steller added five.

UCSB used an Anteater attack error and a kill by Cullen Irons to take a 22-20 advantage in the second set and would never trail again. Jeff Menzel put away eight kills to lead the Gauchos to the 30-27 victory.

The Gauchos held the 23-20 lead in the third set before UCI knotted the score at 24-24 on a Austin D’Amore kill. The teams traded points until UCSB stuffed two consecutive Anteater attack attempts to take the set, 32-30.

UC Santa Barbara opened a small 20-18 cushion on a Jake Rosener kill in the fourth set. The Anteaters came back to tie the set at 21-21 on a kill by DuFault and a block by Carson Clark and Kevin Wynne. With the score tied 29-29, a UCSB service error was followed by another block by D’Amore and Clark to force the fifth set, 31-29.

UCI scored the last three points on the fifth set on a kill by Taylor Wilson, a block by D’Amore and Wilson and a Gaucho attack that sailed wide, 15-12.

The Anteaters improve to 11-2 overall and 7-1 in the MPSF, while UCSB falls to 3-8 on the year and 1-7 in MPSF play. UCI will return to action next Wednesday (Feb. 18), traveling to No. 4 USC for a 7:00 p.m. first serve at the Galen Center.