‘Eaters have No. 1 written all over them

Richard Dunn

It’s supply and demand at UC Irvine, where men’s volleyball coach

John Speraw is moonlighting as an economics professor.

Speraw’s program, which will likely earn a No. 1 ranking early

this week for the first time in school history, is bursting out of

the seams at tiny Crawford Hall, where a standing room-only crowd

watched the Anteaters sweep No. 8 Long Beach State, 30-28, 30-20,

30-27, in a wild Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Saturday

night.

“I’d like to do that,” Speraw said of his team moving into the

Bren Events Center on a regular basis. “That’s where we’re going with

this program. We hope to fill up the Bren Center.”

UC Irvine, ranked No. 2 but probably headed for a move up after

No. 1 Hawaii lost to Stanford, will host Hawaii at the Bren Center on

Friday at 7 p.m., after a nonconference match Tuesday against

visiting Princeton, which has a large following in the area, Speraw

said.

The Anteaters (9-0, 3-0 in the MPSF) won their third match of the

week behind a balanced attack, led by outside hitter Jimmy Pelzel’s

19 kills, two service aces, two assists and three blocks. UCI put up

18 block assists to Long Beach State’s four in the first game, while

holding the 49ers (6-2, 2-1) to a .071 hitting percentage. But the

visitors wouldn’t go away. In fact, the 49ers led as late as 25-24 in

the opening game, but that’s when Irvine rolled off three straight

points, tying its longest point streak of the game. Spencer Bemus

(eight kills) tied it, 25-25, on a kill, then the Anteaters went

ahead on a Long Beach State hitting error and increased their lead to

27-25 on a block by Bemus.

Nic Vislay, a 6-foot-4 freshman middle blocker, led UCI with eight

blocks, while junior setter David Kniffin added six blocks and 45

assists.

UC Irvine, which maintained its two-point lead the rest of the way

in the first game to gain the upper hand, started hot in the second

game, building a 9-3 lead with Pelzel at the service line. A kill by

Bemus, block by Kniffin, ace by Pelzel and kill by 6-7 middle blocker

Kyle Weichert produced four straight points for the ‘Eaters, giving

them their early six-point bulge.

After Long Beach State pulled to within 16-11, the ‘Eaters rallied

again with 6-3 outside hitter Monte Tucker at serve, scoring four

straight points for a nine-point lead. Their biggest lead of the

second game was 10 points, also their margin of victory.

“We served and passed better than they did. That was clearly

apparent,” Speraw said.

Tucker also contributed 11 kills for UC Irvine, while libero Greg

Ford had a match-high eight digs in the triumph.

“Our strength is our diversity on offense, and really our

diversity on defense,” Speraw said. “We have a lot of guys who are

strong and playing well. Right now, there’s nobody on our team who

would be our most valuable player, because everybody contributes an

equal amount and that makes us hard to defend.”

Irvine was tied 18 times with Long Beach State in the third game,

the last at 25, which led to an Anteater timeout. Pelzel recorded a

kill off the block to give UCI the lead, then hit a rocket to the

Long Beach State court on a back-door pass from Kniffin. Tucker

scored the game’s final two kills, including an off-speed

match-clincher as the ‘Eaters celebrated.