UCI "Aces" UCSD

Cole Reinholm Aces the Tritons for Match Point

February 28, 2007

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No. 2 UC IRVINE SERVES IT UP; BEATS UC SAN DIEGO, 3-0

Irvine, Calif. -- Five different UC Irvine players fired a service ace as the second-ranked Anteaters swept UC San Diego, 3-0 (30-16, 30-18, 30-25) at Crawford Court Wednesday.

UCI (18-3, 12-3) totaled a season-high 11 aces, as junior Aaron Harrell and freshman Cole Reinholm led the Anteaters each recording a career-high four service aces in the victory. Jayson Jablonsky, Matt Webber and David Smith also served up an ace. Jablonsky led all players with 10 kills, while middle blocker David Smith hit .818, recording nine kills on 11 attempts in his third consecutive match without an error. Harrell added nine kills and hit .643 (9-0-14), while Webber and Reinholm pitched in seven kills apiece. Webber and libero Brent Asuka each added a team-high six digs. Senior setter Brian Thornton tallied 37 assists and five digs.

The Anteaters out-blocked the Tritons 12.5 to 3.0 with Thornton, Harrell and Smith each recording five total blocks. UCI hit .436 (43-9-78) for the match, while UCSD hit just .027 (25-23-74).

UC San Diego (5-11, 2-9) was led by Jason Spangler with six kills followed by Frank Fritsch, Stephen Shaw and Andy Northness with four kills each. Will Ehrman lead all players with eight digs.

UCI held a 10-5 lead in game one before UCSD out-scored the Anteaters 5-2 to draw within 12-10. UCI would score the next five points to extend the advantage to 17-10 and would cruise to the 30-16 victory.

The Tritons led 9-6 in game two, but the Anteaters used a kill and an ace by Harrell combined with a UCSD hitting error to knot the score at 9-9. UCI would go on a 12-3 run which included four UCI service aces to pull ahead 21-12 and never look back in the 30-18 win.

Game three saw UCI leading 25-21 before the Tritons scored three unanswered to close to 25-24. Following an Anteater timeout, the teams traded points (26-25) then UCI received kills by Reinholm and Smith and another ace by Harrell to give them match point 29-25. A San Diego attack error ended the game, 30-25 and the match 3-0.