Anteaters travel full circle

The UC Irvine men’s volleyball team blazes a new trail this week when it ventures to the four-team NCAA Championship that begins Thursday at Penn State University’s Rec Hall.

But, in a sense, the near-2,500-mile trip that began this morning at John Wayne Airport, will bring Coach John Speraw and his Anteaters full circle.

It is nearly six months to the day since the team, still stinging from a 9-20 campaign in 2005, first journeyed to Penn State. Speraw said the November trip to University Park, a locale also known as Happy Valley, was an opportunity to seek out some quality fall competition in preparation for the 2006 season. But the visit to the home of the Nittany Lions also served a higher purpuse.

UCI junior opposite Matt Webber retells the tale:

“We got up early and flew into Baltimore, or wherever, then we drove to Penn State,” Webber said. “It was the worst drive ever, it was late at night, and we really didn’t even want to get there, because we figured Speraw would want to practice right when we arrived. Speraw was driving another van and he had his foot on the gas the whole time, becaue he wanted to get there as fast as he could. The other two coaches [both driving separate vans carrying more players] were cruising along. We even stopped and had a nice dinner, because we were thinking that by the time we got there, it would be too late to practice.

“We finally got there around 11:30 p.m. Speraw was already in the gym and the guys in his van were hitting the ball around a little bit. We’re like ‘Man, this was the worst travel day ever,’ but Speraw was smiling from ear-to-ear.

“He asked us if we wanted to know why he was so happy and we threw out all these anwsers. But he shook his head to all of those. He said ‘It’s because this is where we’re going to be at the end of the [upcoming] season.’

“Just like that, it made the whole trip to Penn State just awesome, because we all realized that was where we were going to start and that was where the season was going to end.”