Jan. 26, 2010

UCI HOSTS PRINCETON; TRAVELS TO HAWAII FOR TWO: After hosting Princeton Tuesday (Jan. 26) at 7:00 p.m. in Crawford Court, seventh-ranked UC Irvine (4-4, 1-3) will travel to No. 9 Hawaii for a pair of matches Friday and Saturday (Jan. 29 & 30). Both matches will begin at 9:00 p.m. PST at the Stan Sheriff Center.

VERSUS THE OPPONENTS: UCI owns a 12-2 advantage over Princeton in the series records.  The Anteaters have won the last 10 meetings with the Tigers with Princeton’s last win against UCI coming in 1997. Sam Shweisky is in his first year as the Princeton head coach. The Tigers begin the 2010 season at Cal Baptist Monday before coming to the Bren on Tuesday.

Hawaii leads UCI, 27-10 in the series records, but the Anteaters have won six of the last seven matches. UCI is 3-14 when playing in Hawaii. The Warriors are 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the MPSF and are coming off a pair of wins at Pacific. Hawaii is under the direction of first year head coach Charlie Wade.

STOPPING THE SKID: The Anteaters enter the week on a three-match losing streak. The last time UCI lost three in a row dates back to April 2008.

FAMILIAR FACE: UCI assistant coach Mark Presho is a 1993 graduate of Hawaii where he earned All-American honors as a senior. He is second all-time in kills (1,582) for the Warriors behind Costa Theocharidis, who was ruled ineligible by the NCAA but his statistics remain.

IN THE MPSF: UCI ranks second in kills (15.84), assists (15.22) and hitting percentage (.334) among MPSF schools. The Anteaters are also ranked third in digs with a 10.75 average.

CLARK LEADS: Sophomore opposite Carson Clark leads the team and is second in the MPSF in kills (5.20) and points (5.80). He leads the team and ranks seventh in the MPSF in aces with a 0.36 average. Clark has recorded double-digit kills in all but one match he has played in this season, including 20 or more kills in three of the last four matches.

SIMMONS THE WALL: Senior Bryan Simmons leads the team and is second the MPSF with a 1.54 blocking average. He had 13 total blocks over two matches last week

UCI RANKED SEVENTH NATIONALLY: UC Irvine fell to seventh in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll. The Anteaters have been ranked in the nation’s top 10 for 79 consecutive weeks, including No. 1 for 21 of those weeks. The Anteaters have been ranked No. 1 in four different years (2003, 2006, 2007, 2009) under head coach John Speraw.

ANTEATERS DROP TWO LAST WEEK: UCI dropped a pair of matches last week to No.2 Cal State Northridge (3-1) on the road and No. 11 UC Santa Barbara (3-1) at home.

UCI out-hit, out-dug and out-blocked the Matadors. The Anteaters hit .328 (59-19-122) which was the second best mark this season. Carson Clark led UCI with 23 kills followed by Jordan DuFault with 18.

Cole Reinholm led UCI with 16 kills versus UC Santa Barbara, while Connor Hughes added 14 kills. Both players came off the bench as Carson Clark, Jordan DuFault and Kevin Carroll only played the first set.