Trojans Taken Down

http://ucirvinesports.cstv.com/sports/m-volley/recaps/021909aab.html

UC Irvine Outlasts USC, 3-2
Wilson and Steller lead Anteaters

Feb. 18, 2009

Boxscore

Los Angeles, Calif. – Senior Jon Steller got 14 kills off the bench to spark the No. 2-ranked UC Irvine men's volleyball team to a 30-25, 23-30, 30-25, 37-39, 15-11 win over No. 5 USC in the Galen Center in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Wednesday.

In posting its ninth consecutive win over the Trojans, UC Irvine improved to 12-2 overall and maintained its hold on first place in the MPSF at 8-1 in league play. USC dropped to 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the MPSF.

For the Anteaters, Taylor Wilson had 19 kills while hitting .366 and added 6 blocks, while Carson Clark had 13 kills (hitting .500) and six digs. Steller played the final three sets recording 14 kills and two service aces. Libero Brent Asuka had nine digs, while middle blocker Austin D'Amore had six blocks off the bench and Kevin Wynne served a career-high five aces. Setter Ryan Ammerman tallied 60 set assists and seven digs in the victory.

Four Trojans were in double figures kills led by Murphy Troy’s match-high had 29. Tony Ciarelli had 17 (hitting .364) with seven digs and four blocks, while Austin Zahn recorded 13 kills while hitting .611 and Hunter Current had 10 kills and four blocks. Libero Luke Morris added a match-high 13 digs.

Both teams hit over .300, with USC at .314 and UCI at .301. The Anteaters had 10.5 blocks to the Trojans' 9.5. UCI served 10 aces to go along with 22 serving errors, while USC recorded 5 aces but had 29 serving errors.

The Anteaters broke open the first set with a 5-0 run to take 22-15 lead. The run was sparked by a kill by Taylor Wilson and a service aces by Kevin Wynne. UCI would win the set 30-25. The Anteaters hit at a .500 clip (13-124) with just one hitting error.

The second set was all Trojans as USC jumped out to an 11-4 lead and never looked back winning 30-23. UCI hit a .207 (11-5-29) while USC hit .593 (18-2-27).

UCI came on strong at the end of the third set, scoring three straight on a Trojan service error and kills by Cole Reinholm and Jon Steller to go up 28-24. Steller would end the set 30-25 with a kill.

After USC overcame a 7-2 deficit in the fourth set, the Trojans caught up at 10-10 and then the set seesawed throughout until a Zahn kill and a UCI hitting error ended it, 39-37.

UC Irvine built a 7-3 edge in the fifth set and USC could never get closer than 2 points as Steller ended the match with a kill.