No. 11 UC Irvine Travels To Long Beach State Wednesday; Hosts UC San Diego Friday
Feb. 23, 2010
ONE ON THE ROAD; ONE AT HOME THIS WEEK FOR UCI: 11th-ranked UC Irvine (8-8, 4-7) will travel to No. 9 Long Beach State Wednesday (Feb. 24) at 7:00 p.m. in the Walter Pyramid before hosting No. 14 UC San Diego Friday (Feb. 26) at the Bren Center beginning at 7:00 p.m.
ON THE INTERNET: Robert Espero will bring you the action from Long Beach State on an internet-only basis omn KUCI 88.9 FM. Click the Listen Live page to access the broadcast.
VERSUS THE OPPONENTS: UCI trails Long Beach State, 29-12, but leads UC San Diego, 30-6 in the series records.
The Anteaters have won the last three meetings including a 3-1 victory in the fifth place match at the UCSB/Elephant Bar Tournament earlier this year. Opposite Carson Clark led UCI with a match-high 20 kills and three service aces. Outside hitter Kevin Carroll had 14 kills, two aces and four blocks, while middle blocker Bryan Simmons had 11 kills and a .500 hitting percentage (11-3-16). Long Beach State was led by Dalton Ammerman and Dean Bittner with 11 kills apiece. LBSU is 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the MPSF.
UCI topped the Tritons 3-1 in the second match of the UCSB/Elephant Bar Tournament. Cole Reinholm led all players with 21 kills followed by Jordan DuFault with 17 and Connor Hughes with 15. The Triton had four players with double-digit kills led by Jason Spangler with 16. Cyrus Kiani recorded 12 kills, Frank Fritsch had 11 and Will Ehman had 10. UCSD is 4-11 overall and 1-9 in MPSF action and will play UCLA before visiting Irvine.
BLACK & BLUE RIVALRY SERIES: Wednesday’s match at Long Beach is part of the Black & Blue Rivalry Series presented by Duke’s of Huntington Beach. Currently Long Beach State leads 12-10. UCI has captured the title the last two seasons.
YODER GARNERS PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR: Outside Cory Yoder was named MPSF Co-Player of the Week with Pepperdine’s Cory Riecks. It is Yoder’s first career MPSF honor. He recorded a season-high 17 kills and 10 digs in the upset win over No. 1 Cal State Northridge. The junior recorded seven kills and hit .500 in the fourth set to help the Anteaters to the victory. He has averaged 3.25 kills, 3.58 points and 2.33 digs over the last three matches. Yoder has only committed three errors in the last three matches and is averaging a .424 hitting percentage in conference matches which ranks eighth. On the season, Yoder is averaging 2.37 kills per set.
UCI CHAMPIONSHIP NAMED LA GREATEST MOMENT OF 2009: Last year’s men’s volleyball national championship was named the LA Sports Greatest Moments of 2009 for a Division I school other than UCLA or USC at the fifth annual LA Sports Awards last Friday at the JW Marriott at L.A. Live. The LA Sports Awards are presented annually by the Los Angeles Sports Council to celebrate the greatest moments of the year in sports in the Los Angeles/Orange County area. UCI’s baseball team won the Division I greatest moment in 2007.
MPSF STATISTICS: UCI ranks second in hitting percentage (.333) and aces (1.52) in the MPSF. The Anteaters are fourth in kills (15.57) and in blocks (2.81) among MPSF schools.
MR CONSISTENCY: Jordan DuFault has been Mr. Consistency at outside hitter. Over the last seven matches, DuFault has averaged 4.67 points, 3.90 kills, 2.33 digs, 0.67 blocks and fired 12 aces. Overall, he is second on the team in kills 4.08 and points 4.75.
IN THE MIDDLE: UCI middle blockers Kevin Wynne and Austin D’Amore combined for 12 kills and 10 blocks against Cal State Northridge. D’Amore Over the last two matches, Wynne is hitting .500 with 11 kills and no errors in 22 attempts and is averaging 1.00 blocks per set, while D’Amore has collected 15 kills, hit .429 and averaged 1.50 blocks per game. The duo has also fired seven aces in the last two matches.
CLARK LEADS: Sophomore opposite Carson Clark leads the team and is second in the MPSF in kills (5.33) and is third in points (5.99). He leads the team and ranks seventh in the MPSF in aces with a 0.37 average. Clark has recorded 20 or more kills in nine matches.
ANTEATERS UPSET CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE: UCI upset No. 1 Cal State Northridge, 3-1 at the Bren Center last week.
Outside hitters Cory Yoder and Jordan DuFault led the team with 17 kills and 10 digs each. Freshman setter Ian Wynne came off the bench to spark the Anteaters with 27 set assists, six digs and two aces.
UCI REMAINS NO. 11: UC Irvine stayed at 11th in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll. The Anteaters have been ranked in the nation’s top 15 for 83 consecutive weeks.
