Night # vs. Hawaii-- The Sweep

Taylor Wilson Leads No. 1 UC Irvine To Sweep Of No. 13 Hawaii
Austin D'Amore Records Career-High 8 Block Assists

March 26, 2009

Final Stats

Irvine, Calif. – Taylor Wilson led top-ranked UC Irvine to a 3-0 victory over No. 13 Hawaii (30-17, 30-25, 30-26) Thursday at the Bren Events Center.

The Anteaters win their sixth in a row and improve to 18-3 overall and 13-2 in the MPSF. Hawaii drops to 6-14 on the year and 3-12 in league play.

Wilson paced UCI with a match-high 15 kills, three aces and three blocks. Jordan DuFault recorded nine kills followed by Carson Clark with seven. Senior Jon Steller totaled six kills and had two aces while middle blocker Austin D’Amore totaled six kills and hit .750 (6-0-8) while knocking down a career and match-best eight block assists. Middle blocker Kevin Wynne also had six kills with Cole Reinholm adding three kills. Setter Ryan Ammerman tallied 38 set assists, two blocks and three blocks. Libero Brent Asuka recorded a match-high seven digs.

UCI hit .329 for the match and fired nine aces while out-blocking Hawaii 9 to 5. Hawaii was held to a .125 hitting percentage.

Sean Carney was the lone Hawaii player in double-digit kills with 11. Brennon Dyer and Gus Tuaniga each recorded five digs with Tuaniga firing three aces. Setter Nejc Zemljak recorded 27 set assists and five digs.

UCI stretched an 8-7 lead to 18-9 on three aces and two of Jordan DuFault’s team-high five kills in the first set. The Anteaters fired six service aces on its way to a 30-17 game one victory.

Hawaii jumped out to a 7-4 lead in the second set but UCI went on an 8-3 run to take a 12-10 lead. UCI led 12-11 before scoring four straight on a kill by Austin D’Amore, two blocks by D’Amore and DuFault and an ace by Taylor Wilson to go ahead 16-11. The Warriors closed to 22-21 on a kill by Sean Carney before Jon Steller fired two aces and Taylor Wilson buried two kills to give the Anteaters the 27-21 cushion. Wilson put away eight kills as UCI took the set, 30-25.

UCI started the third set 6-0 and never looked back as UCI recorded a 30-26 victory on a kill by Steller.

The two teams are back in action again tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. in the Bren Center.