"Bullish" Eaters Trample Matadors

Janaury 17, 2006

HOT HITTING UC IRVINE TOPPLES CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE, 3-0

Northridge, Calif. -- No. 1 ranked UC Irvine hit .505 as a team to top No. 10 Cal State Northridge, 3-0 (36-34, 30-21, 30-19) at The Matadome Wednesday.

UCI hit .505 (57-9-95) as a team for the match while middle blocker Aaron Harrell posted a season-high .909 hitting percentage on 10 kills in 11 swings. The .909 mark is third best in the UCI match record book. The Anteaters fired nine service aces and out-blocked the Matadors 11.5 to 3.0.

The Anteaters improve to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in MPSF while the Matadors go to 2-4 on the year, and 1-2 in league play. UCI has won 20 straight games.

Jayson Jablonsky led UCI with 16 kills and seven digs followed by Matt Webber with 15 kills, three aces and six digs. Brent Asuka led all players with 10 digs. Middle blocker David Smith had eight total blocks to go with seven kills.

Northridge led 22-19 in game one when UCI rallied for three straight capped by a David Smith kill to tie the game at 22-22. Another Smith kill gave the Anteaters a 25-23 advanatge, but UCI could not maintain the lead with the Matadors tying it up 27-27 on a Eric Vance kill. The teams would trade points until a Matador attacking error was followed by a Jayson Jablonsky kill to give UCI the set 36-34. Smith led UCI in game one with seven kills and a .667 hitting percentage. The Anteaters hit .400 (23-5-45) as a team.

Game two was all UC Irvine as the Anteaters jumped out to a 16-11 lead and never trailed by less than four on their way to a 30-21 victory. UCI scored the final three points on a kill and service ace by Aaron Harrell and a kill by Taylor Wilson. UCI was hitting on all cylinders with a team attack percentage of .654 (19-2-26).

The Anteaters jumped out to an early 8-3 lead in game three and sailed to a 30-19 victory and a 3-0 match win.