Volleyball Team Sees Foes Equally

Anyone who knows Charlie Brande, knew the UC Irvine men’s volleyball team wasn’t going to wallow in mediocrity for long.

Beating eighth-ranked UC Santa Barbara in three games in Santa Barbara last week certainly makes the other Mountain Pacific Sports Federation coaches a bit nervous. More significant, though, are the Anteaters’ other two victories.

Cal State San Bernardino and La Verne are not marquee opponents, but the Anteaters (3-0) treated them as being equal in importance to Santa Barbara and swept both in three games. A year ago, Irvine lost to both teams during a 6-18 season, Brande’s first as the Anteaters’ coach.

Brande insists that not all the bugs have been worked out. He also knows his team has three tough matches this week: Princeton, Loyola Marymount and third-ranked Pepperdine.

Still, even Brande appreciates the team’s shift in attitude.

“Our mental approach is so much different,” Brande said. “Good teams come to play every night no matter who they are playing. That we beat San Bernardino and La Verne shows we were focused.”

The two victories were sandwiched around the Santa Barbara match. The Anteaters could have been caught looking ahead by San Bernardino. Against La Verne, they could have still been admiring their first victory over the Gauchos, ending a 19-match losing streak.

“Charlie came in the next day and said, ‘That was a great victory, but it doesn’t mean we stop working hard,’ ” junior outside Mike Rupp said.

“Charlie is very into accountability and personal responsibility,” senior middle blocker Cory Weber said. “I made the mistake of playing intramural soccer for my fraternity on the day of the La Verne game. He told me I wasn’t thinking about the team. He was absolutely right.

“It’s our responsibility to play consistently every game. We made the mistake of underestimating San Bernardino and La Verne last season and we got our tails whipped. This year, we took care of business.”

But there is more at work here than a mental shake-up. The Anteaters are better, and, more importantly, bigger than last season.

Gabe Burt (6 feet 5), Jeremy Koop (6-4), Ben Gross (6-8), Kevin Reid (6-5), Chris Wilson (6-5), Jesse Boyd (6-5) and Andrew Clifton (6-5) arrived this year. Burt, Koop, Reid and Gross already are making significant contributions.

“I told [assistant coach] Jason Bilbruck to go find us some big guys and he did,” Brande said.

As important is what strength coach Eric Burkhardt has done with those players; this season’s Anteaters have more stamina and are more physical.

All of which has led to victories over teams the Anteaters should beat and another over a team they had never beaten.

“Last year, when we lost to Santa Barbara, Charlie didn’t say a word all the way home,” Rupp said. “This time, he talked all the way.”

*

And an order of fries: The final factor behind Rupp choosing Irvine?

“It was close to an In-N-Out Burger,” he said.

*

Nikole Payton, a 5-7 junior guard, helped the Anteater women’s basketball team bounce back from a disastrous two-loss trip to Idaho last week. She has been waiting for a such a chance.

Payton played 37 minutes and scored a career-high 19 points Thursday against Pacific. It was only her third start this season. She came back with eight points, two steals and two assists in 21 minutes off the bench Saturday during an 81-55 victory over Long Beach State.

She has 34 points in her last three games after scoring 27 in the first 14.

“I thought she would make a contribution this season,” Coach Mark Adams said. “She worked hard in the weight room and on conditioning. She deserves games like that.”

Her playing time increased because guard Shannon Anders returned to Texas because of her grandfather’s death last week. Payton hated the circumstances but relished the opportunity.

“I was pretty relaxed and wasn’t timid at all,’ said Payton, who was a four-year starter at San Diego Montgomery High School. “I’ve had problems sitting on the bench because I love the game. I couldn’t stand to just watch. But I could either brood or keep working hard.”

*

Three key games loom for the Anteater men’s basketball team. All are at home--Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Thursday, UC Santa Barbara Saturday and Cal State Fullerton Feb. 5. Santa Barbara and Fullerton are one game behind Irvine and Long Beach State in the conference standings. One of those four teams will miss the conference tournament.

Anteater Notes

Irvine trainer Dave Ramirez competed in the Carlsbad marathon two weeks ago, finishing in a career-best 3 hours 54 minutes. For most, it would be the culmination of a lot of hard work; for Ramirez, it’s part of his training regimen. He will compete in the rim-to-rim run at the Grand Canyon in March. “It’s about 40 miles,” Ramirez said. “But I may only do half of it. I’ll see how I feel.” . . . Leticia Oseguera, a senior on the women’s basketball team, and Robert Allaire, a senior water polo player, have been named Irvine’s Big West scholar athletes of the year.