Janaury 6, 2007UCI WINS 43RD ANNUAL ELEPHANT BAR CHAMPIONSHIP; THORNTON NAMED MVP
Santa Barbara, Calif. -- The UC Irvine men's volleyball team captured the championship title of the UCSB/Elephant Bar Tournament with a 3-0 (30-22, 30-26, 30-23) victory over UCLA in Santa Barbara Saturday.
The No. 1 ranked Anteaters improve to 4-0 on the season, while third-ranked UCLA goes to 2-1. This is UC Irvine's second Elephant Bar championship with the first coming in 2003.
Senior setter Brian Thornton was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after recording 45 assists and leading the Anteater offense to a .372 hitting percentage. UCI hit .548 (19-2-31) in game three. Thornton also added two block assists as the Anteaters out-blocked UCLA 8-5.
Seniors Matt Webber and Jayson Jablonsky were name to the All-Tournament team after recording 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Junior middle blocker Aaron Harrell hit .571, recording nine kills with one error in 14 swings. Freshman Cole Reinholm and senior David Smith each added eight kills while Smith hit .500 (8-1-14) and had five total blocks on the night. Sophomore libero Brent Asuka recorded a match-high 14 digs.
UCLA was led by Steve Klosterman with 11 kills followed by Paul George with 10. The Bruins hit just .194 (38-19-98) for the match.
UCI will entertain Hawaii Friday (Jan. 12) at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday (jAN. 13) at 7:30 p.m. in the Bren Events center.
All-Tournament Team
Brian Thornton - UC Irvine - MVP
Jayson Jablonksy - UC Irvine
Matt Webber - UC Irvine
Steve Klosterman - UCLA
Paul George - UCLA
James Lischer - Cal State Northridge
Evan Patek - UC Santa Barbara
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