SMITH BREAKS BLOCK ASSIST RECORD

Smith and Webber applying the campus firewall

FEBRUARY 16, 2007

DAVID SMITH SETS BLOCK ASSIST RECORD AS NO. 3 UC IRVINE SWEEPS STANFORD, 3-0

Stanford, Calif. -- Senior middle blocker David Smith recorded four block assists and became the career record holder as the third-ranked Anteaters swept Stanford 3-0 (30-27, 30-22, 30-20) at Maples Pavilion Friday.

Smith, who has block assists 377 all-time, passes Kyle Weichert's mark of 374 set from 2001-04. Smith also added six kills and two service aces in the victory.

Jayson Jablonsky led the UCI offense with 11kills followed by Matt Webber with 10 kills. The duo added five digs each. Middle blocker Aaron Harrell totaled nine kills and four total blocks while hitting .571 (9-1-14). Freshman Cole Reinholm tallied eight kills, hitting .538 (8-1-13) and recorded five digs. Libero Brent Asuka led all players with nine digs, while senior setter Brian Thornton had 32 set assists and five digs.

UC Irvine improves to 14-3 overall and 8-3 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

After winning game one, 30-27, UCI used a 9-1 run to open the score to 23-15 in game two. Five points in that run came at the hands of Harrell who added two kills and assisted on three blocks.

UCI jumped out to a 6-2 lead in game three and extended the advantage to 13-6 on back-to-back service aces by David Smith and a solo block and a kill on an overpass by Harrell. The Anteaters won the game 30-20 as the Cardinal hit just .033 in the set.

Stanford, who drops to 1-14 overall and 1-9 in the MPSF, was led by Evan Romero and Matt Ceran with nine kills each. Garrett Werner had a match-high five blocks.