5-Game Barn Burner Loss for UCI @ UCLA

April 6, 2007

NO. 4 UCLA UPSETS NO. 2 UC IRVINE IN FIVE (Boxscore)

Los Angeles, Calif. -- After trailing by two games, UCLA battled back to take the next three in an 3-2 (23-30, 14-30, 30-28, 30-28, 17-15) upset of No. 2 UC Irvine Friday at Pauley Pavilion.

The Anteater block was big in game one, out-blocking the Bruins, 6-2 and taking the set 30-23. UCI hit .462, while UCLA hit just.179.

UC Irvine took game two 30-24 with Matt Webber and Taylor Wilson each adding four kills.

UCLA turned on the block in games three and four totaling 13 blocks to UCI's 3. The Bruins took game three 30-28 and game four 30-28. In game three, UCI rallied from a 25-27 deficit on a Jablonsky kill and ace to tie the score at 27-27. After each scoring a point, a kill by Paul George was followed by a Bruin block for the 30-28 UCLA win.

UCI jumped to a 3-0 lead in game five behind the serving of Brian Thornton and two Taylor Wilson kills. UCI maintained the lead until another Bruin block tied the score at 10-10. After trading points, a kill on an overpass gave the Bruins the 12-11 advantage. A Smith kill knotted the game at 12-12. Two sideouts preceeded a Wilson kill to put UCI up 14-13. A Garrett Muagututia kill tied it at 14-14 before a Thornton set that was intended for Smith trickeled over the net for the point 15-14. A Bruin kill and service ace gave UCLA match point before an Anteater attempt was blocked for the Bruin 17-15 victory.

UCI falls to 22-5 on the year and 15-5 in the MPSF, while UCLA improves to 17-10 overall and 11-9 in league action.

UCI's Jayson Jablsonky led all players with 19 kills. Taylor Wilson had 17 kills followed by Matt Webber with 14 and Aaron Harrell and David Smith with 12 kills each. Smith was errorless on the night, hitting .800 (12-0-15). Brian Thornton had a double-double with 64 assists and a career-high 12 digs. He also added five total blocks. Wilson, Webber and libero Brent Asuka each had nine digs on the night. Harrell led the team at the net with seven blocks.

Steve Klosterman and Paul George each had 17 kills in the win. The Bruins had 26 blocks for the match.