Speraw is awarded top honor

UC Irvine men’s volleyball coach John Speraw, who guided the Anteaters to the NCAA Championship semifinals and the program’s first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular-season title, has been named 2006 Division I and II men’s National Coach of the Year by Tachikara and the American Volleyball Coaches’ Assn.

Speraw’s fourth season at the Anteaters’ helm was a landmark campaign. UCI rewrote its record book, including a 27-5 record that featured a 21-match winning streak to conclude the regular season.

The 27 wins were the most by any men’s Division I and Division II program this season.

UCI had 18 more wins than in 2005, was ranked No. 1 most of the season and was the No.1 seed heading into the four-team NCAA Championship tournament at Penn State.

UCI ended its first NCAA Championship appearance by falling to the host Nittany Lions in five games. Penn State went on to lose in the championship match to UCLA, which UCI swept in two regular-season meetings.

The Anteaters were ranked No. 2 in the final coaches’ poll.

UCI began the season ranked No. 9 and ascended to the top spot on March 13.

The ‘Eaters, featuring only one senior starter, then held the top spot for eight consecutive weeks.

Speraw, 70-54 overall at UCI, has guided the development of 2006 National Player of the Year Jayson Jablonsky, as well as Newcomer of the Year Brent Asuka.

Jablonsky and Asuka were first-team All-Americans and UCI’s Matt Webber and Brian Thornton were second-team All-Americans.

Speraw’s 70 victories in four years are more than UCI’s combined win total from the first 11 seasons. The previous best four-year mark was 49 wins from 1999 to 2002.

Speraw served in various roles with the UCLA volleyball program for 12 years prior to arriving at UC Irvine. He played middle blocker for the Bruins from 1990-95 and was a member of two national championship teams.

Speraw has extensive international coaching experience and is currently the head coach of the USA junior national team, which won a silver medal at the NORCECA Junior Men’s Continental Volleyball Championship.

He served as an assistant for the youth national team (1998 and 2001), the World University Games team (1997 and 1999) and the Pan American Games team (1999).

Tachikara will formally present the Coach of the Year award in Omaha, Neb., at the Tachikara/AVCA Coach of the Year and Victory Club Awards Banquet on Dec. 14. The brunch is held in conjunction with the 2006 AVCA annual convention. dpt-speraw06.IMGGraphicInfoCU1RMBNI20060606CU1RMBNINo Caption