NO. 3 UC IRVINE BATTLES BACK TO DEFEAT NO. 2 BYU, 3-2; ADVANCES TO MPSF FINALS SATURDAY VERSUS PEPPERDINE

'Eaters After Conquering the Cougars

April 26, 2007

UC IRVINE TAKES DOWN BYU IN FIVE; ADVANCES TO MPSF FINAL (Boxscore)

Malibu, Calif. -- UC Irvine battled back after being down 2-1 to topple BYU in five games (30-19, 28-30, 27-30, 30-27, 15-10) in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation semifinal match Thursday at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

UCI improves to 26-5 overall and advances to the MPSF Championship match for the first time in school history where they will face top seed Pepperdine at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

The Anteaters jumped out to a 5-1 lead in game five behind the serving of freshman Cole Reinholm. The Cougars rallied to close within 11-8 on a pair of Ivan Perez service aces, but Brian Thornton and David Smith clamped down on a Yosleyder Cala attempt to give UCI the 12-8 cushion. A Jayson Jablonsky kill put UCI up 13-10, before two more Cala attacking errors, the last on a solo block by Matt Webber ended the game 15-10 and the match 3-2.

It is the second consecutive five game victory for UCI as the Anteaters beat Hawaii, 3-2 in the quarterfinal round. UCI's last seven victories over BYU have come in five games. The Cougars go to 23-6 overall.

UCI's Jablonsky led all players with 24 kills followed by Webber with 21. David Smith added nine kills on an errorrless night (9-0-19) and had a team-high six blocks assists. Reinholm finished with eight kills hitting .500 (8-2-12). Setter Brian Thornton tallied 63 set assists, eight digs and five blocks, while Brent Asuka led the 'Eaters with 10 digs.

Cala paced BYU with 14 kills followed by Ivan Perez and Robby Stowell with 12 apiece. Joel Silva led all players with 14 digs.

UCI hit .342 for the match while BYU hit just .189.

The score was tied 3-3 in game one when UCI went on a 6-1 run which included service aces by Jablonsky and Webber to take the 9-4 advantage. The Anteaters would keep rolling extending the lead to 22-13 on a Harrell kill. UC Irvine would go on to win the set 30-19 behind Webber's six kills. Webber hit .556, while Jablonsky added four kills and hit .571 (4-0-7). Smith recorded four block assists and totaled three kills on five swings.

BYU was in control of game two when the Anteaters rallied to knot the score at 15-15 on a Smith ace. The score would remain close until a UCI service error was followed by an attack error giving the Cougars the 27-25 cushion. Two kills by Jablonsky narrowed the score to 29-28, but Webber's service sailed long to give BYU the 30-28 game.

BYU won game three 30-27. The contest was close until the Cougars rattled off four straight to take a 21-16 lead. UCI pulled within 29-27 on a Webber kill, but a BYU block ended the set. The Anteaters committed nine service errors.

UCI won game four behind seven Jablonsky kills and five kills from Reinholm to force the deciding fifth game. With the score tied 24-24, Reinholm banged two kills to give UCI the 26-24 edge. A Cougar kill was followed by a pair of Jablonsky kills and a BYU attack error for match point 29-25. BYU scored twice before Matt Webber ended the game with a kill.