'Eaters swept by Cougars

Published Saturday, February 3, 2007 12:33 AM PST
Original Story @ http://dailypilot.com/articles/2007/02/03/sports/dpt-ucivolley03.txt
Sports
'Eaters swept by Cougars
VOLLEYBALL: UC Irvine, ranked No. 2, mistake prone and loses in three to top-ranked Cougars in crucial MPSF battle.
By Barry Faulkner

PROVO, Utah — While the altitude wreaked havoc on their serving and, to some degree, their hitting, the No. 2-ranked UC Irvine men's volleyball team was thoroughly brought down to earth by a 30-21, 30-22, 30-27 loss to top-ranked BYU Friday night.

An overflow crowd of 5,753 at the Smith Fieldhouse witnessed a dominant Mountain Pacific Sports Federation victory for the Cougars (9-0, 5-0 in conference) and a humbling loss for the Anteaters (10-2, 5-2), who committed 20 service errors, hit a season-low .146 as a team, and were bested in the blocking department, 11-5 1/2 .

"We haven't played our best volleyball the last couple weeks, but tonight we were just dead terrible," UCI Coach John Speraw said after the Anteaters' second loss in three matches (both sweeps) after opening the season 9-0. "We didn't pass well, we served horribly and we couldn't hit the ball in the court."

Senior All-Americans Jayson Jablonsky and Matt Webber both hit .000 as the Anteaters had 27 errors and 41 kills in 96 attacks.

BYU, which Speraw has called the most physical team in America for its combination of height and athletic ability, opened the match like a squad that has won 27 of 28 games this season, including eight straight sweeps.

The Cougars scored five of their first 13 points on blocks, though Speraw said it was more a matter of poor execution by his hitters than anything special by the BYU net defenders.

"The stuff blocks they had that they earned were very rare," Speraw said. "At one point, our top four hitters were all hitting [a negative percentage]."

Speraw called timeouts, changed the lineup and even moved players to different positions. But, ultimately, the Anteaters found little success.

UCI's only lead in Game 1 was 1-0. It had leads of 3-0, 10-6 and 16-15 before succumbing in Game 2. And it led, 3-0 and 10-7 in the finale, and was tied, 19-19, before the Cougars sent their raucous home crowd home happy.

"I would have been pleased with a four-game win tonight, but I'm even happier with a sweep," BYU interim Co-coach Shawn Patchell said. "We started out poorly in the third game, but I give the guys credit for pushing through."

Battling the thinner air at altitude, which allows the ball to sail farther, UCI made nine service errors in the opening game and seven more in the second game.

"Then the third game [with just four UCI service errors], we were serving lollipops and [the Cougars] did whatever they wanted with them," Speraw said. "We talked about ways of mitigating the altitude, but we did none of it tonight."

BYU, which hit .375 as a team, had three players with nine kills apiece. Ivan Perez, a 6-4 junior, had nine kills in 14 attempts on his way to a .500 hitting percentage.

Freshman Robby Stowell hit .333 while posting his nine kills and 6-8 sophomore Yosleyder Cala added nine kills.

Patchell, a former UCI assistant, said Irvine's plan to put two blockers on 6-8 junior middle blocker Russell Holmes, helped Perez get better opportunities.

Holmes, who did not have a kill until late in the second game, finished with five kills. He added a team-high five block assists and also produced two aces.

Another noteworthy performance for the winners was turned in by 6-6 freshman Rodnei Santos, who had six kills in seven attempts, without an error, for an .857 hitting percentage.

Santos, who some believe is the best leaper on a team of levitation artists, added four block assists.

UCI had some effectiveness hitting in the middle, as senior David Smith and junior Aaron Harrell led the team with eight kills apiece. Both hit .429 and Patchell said their quickness presented one of the few problems the Anteaters posed. Smith led UCI with three block assists.

"I thought David Smith had a nice match," Speraw said. "Otherwise, we were medium at best."

Webber finished with seven kills and a team-leading 10 digs, while Jablonsky had six kills and one of the 'Eaters' two aces.

Senior setter Brian Thornton had 34 assists for the visitors, while freshman Yamil Perez had 36 for the Cougars.

Freshman Cole Reinholm had four kills in relief of starter Taylor Wilson, who hit minus-.273 with two kills in 11 attempts.

Speraw said Jon Steller, a 6-7 sophomore opposite who hit .500 with five kills, did some positive things off the bench.

Speraw said the opportunity to play the Cougars again tonight is one he viewed as a challenge to his players.

"I told our guys, the only [BYU match] people are going to remember is the last one," Speraw said. "I told them we need to come out [tonight] and show what Irvine volleyball is all about."