Story by Barry Faulker, Daily Pilot
http://dailypilot.com/articles/2007/04/21/sports/dpt-smith21.txt
Updated: Apr 20, 2007 - 23:56:46 PDT
UC Irvine's David Smith, right, was named first-team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation this week. Last year he was an honorable mention.
Smith now center of attention
VOLLEYBALL: UCI senior middle blocker quietly captures the spotlight for Anteaters with strong '07 season.
By Barry Faulkner
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Skateboarding is forbidden at UC Irvine, but senior David Smith still frequently rolls around campus without being detected.
"You have to stay off the main paths," he said recently upon arriving via skateboard for an afternoon interview at Crawford Hall.
His first three seasons on the UCI men's volleyball team, Smith, a 6-foot-7 starting middle blocker, most often left the spotlight for his teammates. Last season, when Anteaters Jayson Jablonsky, Matt Webber, Brian Thornton and Brent Osuka were earning All-American laurels, Smith was given honorable mention in the coaches' All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation voting.
This season, however, Smith has stepped to the forefront, becoming, what many consider the most consistent performer for the No. 3-ranked Anteaters (24-5), who play host to Hawaii (13-13) in the MPSF Tournament quarterfinals tonight at 7 at Crawford Court.
Smith's .573 hitting percentage in conference matches leads the MPSF and his .556 overall hitting percentage ranks second nationally. He ranks third among conference players in blocks (1.44 per game against MPSF competition) and his 1.42 per-game average overall is sixth-best in the nation.
Smith's 246 kills are third-best on the team, behind outside hitters Jablonsky and Webber.
He has just 29 hitting errors (hitting the ball into the net or out of bounds), fewest among the top six UCI hitters, in 390 total attacks.
Smith was named first-team All-MPSF this week, the lone Anteater on the first team. And many believe he is a strong candidate to garner first-team All-American honors, which have yet to be announced.
"He has gotten better at each individual aspect of the game, to the point where he has become one of the best players in America," UCI Coach John Speraw said. "He was always pretty good, offensively, he was always a pretty good blocker and he had the potential to be a good server. All of a sudden, all those things came together. He has certainly become a well-rounded player and I would say he's the best volleyball player of any middle blocker in America."
Heady praise for Smith, who received only one other scholarship offer [from Pepperdine] after blooming late at Saugus High.
"It's definitely not something I thought of when I came here four years ago," Smith said of being recognized among the nation's elite. "I was the guy who got the last-second offer and I was going to have to sit behind the starters. It has been one huge learning process and one huge journey."
Smith began his high school volleyball career as a backup setter. He took advantage of an opening at middle blocker during a tournament his junior year, then began honing the myriad skills required of a middle blocker with two seasons of club volleyball.
"I didn't start playing club until after my junior year," he recalled. "When I graduated high school, I was planning to walk on at UC Santa Barbara. But I started playing well my last year of club, and UCI and Pepperdine started recruiting me."
Smith said he chose UCI over Pepperdine because it had an engineering program.
Speraw, of course, had an engineering plan of his own, turning a virtual afterthought program into a national power. UCI won the MPSF last season and lost in the NCAA semifinals to finish 27-5. The Anteaters, ranked No. 1 much of 2006, entered this season ranked No. 1.
Through most of that process, Smith was a valuable cog, but largely a complimentary player.
This season, he has become a go-to attacker and a consistent blocking weapon.
"Hitting has been the most consistent and strongest part of my game since I came to UCI," Smith said. "I really wanted to improve my blocking this season."
Experience, confidence, improved strength and the tutelage of Speraw, a former standout middle blocker at UCLA, have helped make Smith a force at the net.
"You don't just pick up a textbook and learn how to become a middle blocker," Smith said. "It's a process that takes years of repetition. You have to read the setter to know where to go, get over there quick, and then try to get your hands in the right spot. Blocking can be frustrating, because you can do everything perfectly, but if the guy hits it an inch more to the left [than anticipated] it could go off your arm and out of bounds [for a kill]."
Smith has delivered plenty of frustration to the other side of the net this season. And when he does execute a block, he typically celebrates with a beaming smile and a Tiger Woods' fist pump.
"I have a blast every time I play and I'm always fired up about a block," said Smith, whose severely impaired hearing (a combined 70 to 80 decibel loss in both ears) requires him to wear hearing aids. "A block fires up your whole team and it takes a little confidence out of the other guy."
Smith said his efforts to widen his repertoire of shots, as well as his continued synchronicity with Thornton, have helped him become a more productive hitter.
"My first three years, my bread-and-butter shot was wrist away to the right side of the court," Smith said. "Speraw really encouraged me to open up my range and, now, I can hit to the left, the right, or at a very sharp angle to the right.
"Speraw runs his offense through the middles and I don't know how Thornton does it, but he just finds me and makes my job that much easier."
Smith downplays his impaired hearing, and his upbeat personality, combined with near-seamless verbal skills, makes it easy for teammates, friends and professors to do the same.
"I've always been mainstreamed, so it has never been a big deal for me," said Smith, who relies on lip-reading when conversing.
Smith also downplays his higher profile on the court this season.
"It's weird," he said of the heightened attention on his game. "It's definitely cool that I'm being recognized, but I'm just a middle blocker. My job is trying to do what I can do and just try to make it easier for our go-to guys."
Still content, it seems, just to skate beyond the radar.
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