STELLER the 2nd Eater to be MPSF Player of the Week!

Jon Steller Named MPSF Co-Player of the Week
Steller earns first conference accolade

Feb. 11, 2008

Irvine, Calif. -- Junior Jon Steller was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Co-Player of the Week after helping UCI to a pair of wins last week over No. 5 Pepperdine and No. 11 USC.

Steller recorded a season-high 21 kills and a career best nine digs versus Pepeprdine then hit .524 against USC adding 13 kills and two aces. For the week, Steller averaged 4.86 kills, 1.57 digs and 0.86 blocks.

Steller shared this week's honor with UC Santa Barbara's Theo Brunner. This is Steller's first conference accolade and the second for an Anteater player this year (Taylor Wilson, Jan. 28).

Sixth-ranked UCI will battle No. 1 BYU Friday and Saturday (Feb. 15 & 16) at the Bren Center. First serve for both matches is 7:00 p.m.

Video Unveiling of 2007 National Championship Banner

Hey eater fans! Check this out-- it's on The Daily Pilot website

http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2008/02/09/video/doc47ad401a31f07420548899.txt

Just push play!

Eaters Sweep the Trojans

Cory Yoder led UCI with 14 kills

UC Irvine Offensive Attack Dominates In 3-0 Sweep of USC
National Championship Banner Unveiled

Feb. 8, 2008

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

Irvine, Calif. - No. 8 UC Irvine hit .500 as a team as the Anteaters swept No. 11 USC, 3-0 (30-28, 30-26, 30-22) in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Friday at the Bren Center.

The Anteaters improve to 8-6 overall and 5-4 in the MPSF on the night that 2007 National Championship banner was unveiled at the Bren. USC falls to 6-7 overall and 5-5 in league action.

As a team, UCI hit a season-high .500 (47-7-80) for the match and out-blocked the Trojans, 9-0.

Freshman outside hitter Cory Yoder led UCI with 14 kills, hitting .542 (14-1-24), adding an ace and three blocks. Junior opposite Jon Steller ended the night with 13 kills, hitting .524 (13-2-21) and firing two aces. Senior middle blocker Aaron Harrell hit .636 on seven kills with no errors on 11 attempts and two blocks. Freshman Kevin Carroll also had seven kills, hitting .417 (7-2-12) for the match. Junior setter Ryan Ammerman dished a career-high 44 assists with five digs and three blocks. Freshman middle blocker Kevin Wynne hit .556 (6-1-9) and led all players with five blocks. Junior libero Brent Asuka tallied seven digs in the win.

Juan Figueroa was the only USC player in double-figures with 16 kills. Murphy Troy added nine kills, while libero Luke Morris had a team-high six digs. Senior Jimmy Killian recorded 32 set assists in the loss.

UCI led 9-4 in game one and continued to lead 29-26 before the Trojans scored two unanswered to narrow the lead to 29-28. The run was halted when a USC service error ended the game, 30-28.

The Anteaters started game two on a 5-1 spurt, before USC rallied to knot the score at 7-7. The game was closely contested after that point with never more than a two-point lead. With the score tied 25-25, UCI recorded two kills by Jon Steller followed by a Trojan hitting error to give the Anteaters a 28-25 cushion. Aaron Harrell would end the game, 30-26 on a service ace.

UCI scored four straight to take a 13-9 lead in game three and never looked back as they cruised to the 30-22 victory.

UCI will entertain No. 1 BYU next Friday and Saturday (Feb. 15 & 16) in the Bren Center at 7:00 p.m.

No. 8 UC Irvine Takes Down No. 5 Pepperdine

Ammerman post career numbers

Feb. 6, 2008

Final Stats

Irvine, Calif. - Junior setter Ryan Ammerman had a career-high 40 set assists to lead No. 8 UC Irvine to a 3-1 (25-30, 30-23, 30-25, 30-28) victory over No. 5 Pepperdine Wednesday at the Bren Events Center.

UCI improves to 7-6 overall and 4-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, sweeping the season series with Pepperdine for the first time since 1995. Pepperdine goes to 5-4 overall and in conference play.

Ammerman posted a career-best 11 digs and career-high five block assists to go with the 40 set assists. Jon Steller recorded a season-high 21 kills and nine digs, while freshman Cory Yoder and Kevin Carroll each had 15 kills in the win. Yoder also recorded a career-high nine digs. Senior middle blocker Aaron Harrell recorded a career-high 10 block assists to go with six kills. Freshman middle blocker Kevin Wynne added seven blocks, while libero Brent Asuka totaled 13 digs.

The Anteaters recorded a season-high 17.5 blocks, while the Anteaters' 59 digs was the second most this season.

Cory Riecks led Pepperdine with 15 kills followed by Matt McKee with 11 and J.D. Schleppenbach with 10 kills. Jonathan Winder totaled 45 set assists and a match-high 16 digs. Mark Hulse had a team-high eight blocks, while libero Sean Grubbs added eight digs.

In game one, Pepperdine made a move after leading 11-10, scoring three unanswered points to extend the lead to 14-10. UCI narrowed the margin to 27-25, but the Waves would score three in a row to take the game, 30-25.

With the score tied 19-19 in game two, UCI went on an 8-2 run to go up 27-21. The Anteaters, who used three blocks and a pair of kills by Jon Steller in that run, ended the game on another Steller kill, 30-23.

Pepperdine led 19-16 in game three before the Anteaters went on an 8-1 spurt, which included back-to-back kills by Kevin Wynne to go ahead 24-20. Both teams combined for five service errors in the last 11 points as UCI went on to take the set, 30-25. UCI hit just .171 in the game, but the Waves hit -.097.

Game four was all Pepperdine as the Waves led 23-17. UCI would rally, out-scoring Pepperdine 6-1 to narrow the deficit to 24-23. Aaron Harrell had three consecutive blocks assists in that flurry. Another Steller kill tied the game at 26-26 and the Anteaters took their first lead of the game on a block by Jordan DuFault, 27-26. An Anteater attack error was followed by a Wave service error and attack error to give UCI match point, 29-27. Eric Liebert would put away a kill for Pepperdine before a block by Cory Yoder and Kevin Wynne sealed the victory, 30-28.

UCI will battle No. 11 USC Friday (Feb. 8) at 7:00 p.m. at the Bren Center. The team's National Championship banner will be unveiled at 6:55 prior to the start of the match.