Official Athletic Site of UC Irvine Anteaters

Current time: 2:41 p.m.
Tue October 07, 2008

Cory Yoder

UC Irvine Travels to Pacific; Stanford To Close Out Regular Season

Important MPSF matches this week

April 7, 2008

UC IRVINE TRAVELS NORTH FOR FINAL TWO REGULAR SEASON MATCHES: No. 7 UC Irvine (14-13, 10-10) will travel north to face Pacific Friday (Apr. 11) then battle No. 11 Stanford Saturday (Apr. 12). Both matches begin at 7:00 p.m.

 

VS THE OPPONENTS: UCI holds a 15-10 advantage over Pacific. The Anteaters defeated the Tigers, 3-0 earlier this year in Irvine. UOP is 4-22 overall and in 1-19 the MPSF.

 

Stanford has won the last two meetings with UCI holding a 23-10 series lead over the Anteaters. The Cardinal is 15-10 on the year and tied with UCI with a 10-10 league record.

IMPORTANT MPSF WEEK FOR SEEDING: UCI clinched its third consecutive post-season appearance and are currently tied for sixth with Stanford and USC at 10-10.  UCI holds the tiebreaker over USC and Pepperdine and currently trail Stanford 0-1 heading into the final week. The top eight finishers in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings advance to the postseason with No. 7 taking on No. 8 in a play-in to the MPSF Tournament April 16. With two regular season matches remaining, Long Beach State, BYU, and Cal State Northridge have clinched at least a three seed and will host a quarterfinal match on Apr. 19. The regular season champion will receive a first round bye and host the MPSF Championship.

MPSF Standings (as of 4/7/08)

1. Long Beach State           16-4

1. BYU                                    16-4

1. Cal St. Northridge           16-4

4. UCLA                                 11-9

4. Pepperdine                      11-9

6. Stanford                            10-10

6. UC Irvine                           10-10

6. USC                                   10-10

 

IN THE RANKINGS: UC Irvine moved up two spots to No. 7 in the AVCA Coaches poll. The Anteaters have been ranked in the nation's top 10 for 49 consecutive weeks.

 

ANTEATERS UPSET NO. 2 NORTHRIDGE: UCI upset No. 2 Cal State Northridge, 3-1 to begin the week, winning game three 42-40, the longest game at UCI all-time and the third longest in MPSF history.

 

The Anteaters dominated the net, out-blocking Northridge 21-7.5. The 21 blocks was the second most for UCI this season.

 

Junior Jon Steller led all players with 27 kills and a career-high seven block assists. Freshman outside hitter Jordan DuFault added 16 kills, his second highest career kill total, a career-high 12 digs and a career-best seven block assists. Middle blockers Aaron Harrell and and Kevin Wynne each recorded seven kills and a team-high eight block assists with Harrell adding a solo for a match-high nine total blocks. Libero Brent Asuka tied his season-high with 18 digs, while outside hitter Kevin Carroll came off the bench to play solid defense with seven digs to go with four kills and a .500 hitting percentage.  Setter Anthony Spittle recorded 55 set assists and a career-high six blocks.

 

UCI ended the week with a 3-0 sweep of No. 14 UC Santa Barbara on the road.

 

Steller and DuFault led UCI with 15 kills each while DuFault hitting .542 for the match. Outside hitter Cory Yoder totaled eight kills, while middle blockers Aaron Harrell  and Kevin Wynne each added five kills. Harrell also recorded a team-high five blocks and two aces. Libero Brent Asuka recorded eight digs and setter Anthony gathered 45 set assists.

 

DEFINITELY DUFAULT: Freshman Jordan DuFault was instrumental in UCI's two wins last week. He recorded 16 kills, a career-high 12 digs and career best seven blocks versus Northridge. The outside hitter added 15 kills while hitting .542 against the Gauchos.  For the week, DuFault averaged 4.43 kills, 1.86 digs and 1.00 blocks per game.