Irvine, Calif. – UC Irvine's Kevin Tillie had a career-high 18 kills and hit .567 to lead second-ranked UC Irvine to a 3-1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-21, 25-16) victory over No. 5 USC at the Bren Center Friday.
The Anteaters, who played in front of 2,084 fans tonight, improve to 7-2 overall and 3-2 in the MPSF. USC goes to 3-3 overall and 2-3 on the year.
UCI junior Kevin Tillie put away a career-high 18 kills and hit .567 (18-1-30) from the outside. Junior opposite Carson Clark recorded 10 kills, four aces and tied his season-high with five block assists. Sophomore outside hitter Jeremy Dejno added nine kills, while middle blockers Dan McDonnell and Scott Kevorken added five block assist a piece and recorded six and five kills, respectively. McDonnell also fired three aces. Sophomore setter Daniel Stork totaled 39 assists, eight digs and four blocks. Freshman libero Michael Brinkley was credited with eight digs.
Tony Ciarelli led USC with 14 kills followed by Jeff Carlson with 12 kills. Libero Henry Cassidy had a match-high 10 digs.
UCI controlled the net with a 13 to 4 blocking advantage and fired eight aces to the Trojans' 3. For the match, UCI hit .333, while USC hit .234.
In the first set, UCI used a Trojan attack error, a solo block by Jeremy Dejno and a block by Dan McDonnell and Carson Clark to take the 6-3 lead then would extend the lead to 17-10 on kills by Dejno and Clark. The Anteaters would win the set 25-17 hitting .571 (14-1-22).
USC controlled the second set until a kill by Tillie was followed by a set error by USC to tie the score at 21-21. The Trojans would score the next two points on Anteater miscues forcing a UCI timeout. A kill by Dejno was followed by a block by McDonnell and Clark to knot the set at 23 all. A kill by Steven Shandrick and an attack error by UCI gave USC the set 25-23. UCI hit just .118 (12-8-34) in the second frame.
USC jumped out to a quick 6-3 lead in the third set, but the Anteaters tied the score at 9-9. The teams remained close and were tied 17-17 before the Anteaters had kills by Scott Kevorken and Tillie plus an ace by Clark to put UCI ahead 20-17. That was all the separation UCI needed as the Anteaters won the set 25-21.
UCI started the fourth set with a quick 7-3 lead. The Trojans closed within 9-8 before UCI went on a 3-1 run, the last two points coming on Anteater blocks to open the 12-9 advantage. UCI would roll to the 25-16 victory, committing just one attack error in the set (12-1-30).
UCI will return to action traveling to Hawaii on Feb. 10 and 12.
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