UCI falls in 5, but is alive

IRVINE — Once more, with consequences.

That’s the rallying cry for the UC Irvine men’s volleyball team when it visits Stanford in the quarterfinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament on Saturday.

There was, potentially, the season on the line for the No. 8-ranked Anteaters Saturday at the Bren Events Center, when the No. 1-ranked Cardinal prevailed, 30-21, 27-30, 30-28, 24-30, 15-6.

But with UC Santa Barbara losing at home to Hawaii, Coach John Speraw’s defending national champions captured the eighth and final berth in the MPSF Tournament, and the right to continue to defend their NCAA crown.

Additionally, the Stanford victory, combined with a BYU loss, allowed the Cardinal (19-6, 16-6 in conference) to win the outright MPSF regular-season title, its first since 1997.

It was a hard-fought triumph for Stanford against the Anteaters, who did not play well, according to Speraw.

“Actually considering Stanford is the winner of the conference and, truthfully, the way we played, I think getting to a fifth game was great,” Speraw said of the ’Eaters’ ninth setback in 10 five-game matches this season. “I did not think we were very good, and so I am in some ways pleased. I just hope we can play a lot better [next week], because that was not great volleyball.”

Speraw was harshly critical of his team’s serving woes, as the Anteaters (15-14, 10-12) had 28 service errors, the most in any match this season.

“Austin [D’Amore] had eight [service errors], then I stick in Kevin Wynne for him and he missed the next two [serves],” Speraw said. That’s just unbelievable. Carson has seven [service errors]. That’s just really poor volleyball.”

UCI missed 10 serves in Game 2 and still won, which, in some ways typified what some would consider an atypical match for both teams.

UCI junior outside hitter Jordan DuFault had 27 kills and hit .469 to lead the hosts.

Clark, who practiced very little all week due to strep throat and was likely fatigued after playing three sets Friday in the sweep of visiting Pacific, had 24 kills and 10 digs. He also had a team-leading five aces, including back-to-back jump serve bombs to put the Anteaters up, 24-20, on their way to the win in Game 4.

“For Carson to contribute [being sick] was good,” Speraw said. “He had a bunch of errors, but he also scored a bunch of points.”

Junior outside hitter Cory Yoder chipped in 14 kills and hit .414, junior setter Jeff Schmitz had 60 assists, two more than Stanford senior Kawika Shoji, a conference player of the year candidate.

UCI freshman libero Will Montgomery had a team-best 17 digs, but he, along with Schmitz’s setting, a lack of offensive production from the middle blockers (five combined kills), and some inconsistent service receiving were all areas of concern for Speraw.

“I think it’s going to be great video [review with the team],” Speraw said. “I hope we can continue to learn from it. I’m not sure the guys are going to enjoy that video session very much, but I think it can be productive. We just have to keep betting better.

“I like the opportunity we have to go and play a team we just played, to see what we can do differently and see what they do differently. I always enjoy that. We usually have that circumstance with the MPSF final and then the Final Four. We’ll have the opportunity to strategize and see how our team can adapt. We’ve been good at that [in recent postseasons that have included national titles two of the last three years]. But this is a different team and we’re going to have to see if this team can be good at it too.”

Stanford had 10 aces and just 13 service errors to help counter UCI’s edge in hitting (.310 to .262) as well as the ’Eaters’ 16-9 advantage in team blocks.

Senior opposite Evan Romero led Stanford with 24 kills and five aces, but sophomore outside hitter Brad Lawson took over in Game 5, producing four kills and two aces.

Stanford sophomore middle Gus Ellis, a Corona del Mar High product, had eight kills and a team-best five block assists.