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UC Irvine Travels to BYU For MPSF Quarterfinal Match Saturday

Live videostream available on BYU website

April 17, 2008

UC IRVINE TRAVELS TO BYU FOR MPSF QUARTERFINALS: Seventh seed UC Irvine (16-14, 11-11) will travel to second seed BYU in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation quarterfinal match Saturday (Apr. 19) at 7:00 p.m. MT in Smith Fieldhouse.

WATCH THE MATCH: BYU is providing a free videostream of Saturday's match. Go to the men's volleyball schedule page http://www.byucougars.com/Schedule.jsp?SP=201 and click Web on April 19th.

VS THE OPPONENTS: No. 3 BYU holds a 31-9 advantage over eighth ranked UC Irvine in the series records. The Anteaters have only won three times in Provo, twice in 1991 and once in 2007 (3-2). The last five UCI victories over the Cougars have come in five games.

BYU won the last two meetings with UCI, a 3-2 victory and 3-1 win in Irvine earlier this season. The first meeting saw BYU win 28-26 in the final set, the longest fifth game in MPSF history. UCI hit a dismal .152 combined over the first two meetings, including a season-low .106 on Feb. 16. The Anteaters had a season-best 23.5 blocks in the second outing against the Cougars.

0 FOR PROVO: UCI is 0-2 when traveling to Provo for an MPSF post-season match. BYU swept the Anteaters in 2004 and topped UCI, 3-1 in 2001.

UCI is 5-5 in MPSF post-season play overall, beating BYU (3-2) in an MPSF semifinal match last year at Pepperdine.

GOING THE DISTANCE IN POST-SEASON PLAY: UCI has won its last four MPSF play-off matches in five games, including Wednesday's victory over USC. UCI won their first MPSF Championship last year as they won three consecutive 3-2 matches against Hawaii, BYU and Pepperdine after trailing 0-2 in each outing. The Anteaters are 2-5 this season when going the distance.

MPSF CHAMPIONSHIP BREAKDOWN: Long Beach State finished in a tie with BYU for the regular season title, but due to beating the Cougars twice they earn the No. 1 seed and will host the MPSF Championship semifinals and finals April 24 and 26 at the Pyramid. Other quarterfinal matches include No. 3 Cal State Northridge hosting No. 6 Stanford, and No. 4 UCLA hosting No. 5 Pepperdine.

Apr. 19   MPSF Quarterfinals

No. 1 Long Beach State     Bye

No. 2 BYU hosts No. 7 UC Irvine

No. 3 Cal State Northridge hosts No. 6 Stanford

No. 4 UCLA hosts No. 5 Pepperdine

IN THE RANKINGS: UC Irvine moved down one spot to No. 8 in the AVCA Coaches poll. The Anteaters have been ranked in the nation's top 10 for 50 consecutive weeks.

FINDING THE RIGHT COMBINATION: UCI has used 11 different starting lineups this year.  Middle blocker Aaron Harrell is usually the lone senior on the floor as the Anteaters feature three or four freshman on the floor most of the time.

UCI RALLIES TO BEAT USC: UCI lost game three 30-21, the worst loss this season to go down 2-1, but rallied to win the fourth and fifth games to beat USC, 3-2 in the MPSF play-in match Wednesday in Irvine.

Junior Taylor Wilson sparked UCI with 10 kills, a career-high four aces and four blocks. Cory Yoder led the Anteaters with 17 kills, while Cole Reinholm came off the bench to add 12 kills in the victory.  Setter Anthony Spittle totaled a career-high 10 digs to go with 61 set assists, the second most by the freshman this season.

It is the Anteaters third win over USC this year as Yoder has averaged 3.92 kills and hit .506 on the outside versus the Trojans in 2008.