Bruins No Bear

March 9, 2007

RECORD CROWD WATCHES NO. 2 UC IRVINE BLANK NO. 5 UCLA, 3-0 (Boxscore)

Irvine, Calif. – A school record 3,612 fans watched second-ranked UC Irvine beat No. 5 UCLA, 3-0 (30-26, 30-28, 30-21) at the Bren Events Center Friday.

UCI extends its winning streak to eight matches and improves to 20-3 overall and 14-3 in the MPSF. UCLA goes to 12-9 on the year and 9-8 in league play. Tonight’s attendance breaks the old school mark of 3,235 set in 2003 against Hawaii.

Senior opposite Matt Webber led the Anteaters with 16 kills, eight digs and three blocks. Middle blocker David Smith continued his hot-hitting with eight kills and a .636 hitting percentage (8-1-11). Senior Jayson Jablonsky added seven kills, seven digs and five blocks, while junior Aaron Harrell had a match-high seven blocks to go with four kills. Senior setter Brian Thornton totaled 33 set assists and six digs. Libero Brent Asuka tallied nine digs in the win. The Anteaters won the battle at the net, with a 10.5 to 5.0 advantage.

The Bruins were led by Steve Klosterman with a match-high 21 kills. Brett Perrine had seven kills and Jamie Diefenbach added six kills in the loss. Libero Tony Ker led all players with 12 digs. Setter Kevin Ker tallied 38 set assists and five digs on the night.

UCI jumped out to a 9-4 lead in game one on a kill by David Smith then opened up a 24-18 advantage on a triple block by Jayson Jablonsky, Aaron Harrell and Matt Webber. The Anteaters would go on to the 30-26 victory in the first set.

UCI led 27-21 in game two before UCLA scored the next five points to narrow the UCI lead to 27-26. Following a UCI timeout, Cole Reinholm stopped the streak with a kill (28-26). The teams traded points until UCLA had one of its 24 service errors to end the game 30-28 in favor of the Anteaters.

UC Irvine never trailed in game three as the Bruins got as close as 13-11 before the Anteaters reeled off three consecutive to put them ahead 16-11. UCLA would get no closer than four the rest of the way with UC Irvine taking the game 30-21 and the match 3-0.