NO. 1 UC IRVINE IDLE THIS WEEK FOR FINALS: No. 1 UC Irvine will take the week off for final exams and returns to action on Mar. 30 when the Anteaters host UC Santa Barbara at 7:00 p.m. in Crawford Court.
UCLA MATCH SOLD OUT: UCI's final regular season home match versus UCLA on Mar. 31 in Crawford Court is sold out to the general public. 200 UCI undergraduate student tickets will be available at the door beginning at 6:00 p.m. on a first-come, first-serve basis with ID. Fans are encouraged to get to the match early as a large event at the Bren Events Center will impact parking at the Mesa Structure.
The match against the Bruins is also Senior Night where Carson Clark, Kevin Carroll, Austin D'Amore, Dan McDonnell, Alex Reiss and Will Montgomery will be honored prior to the match.
STREAKING: UCI is currently on a nine-match winning streak. The last time UCI strung nine wins together dates back to Feb. 14-Mar. 29, 2007 when they won 10 in a row. UCI has the second longest streak in the MPSF behind USC's 10 consecutive.
NO. 1 IN THE COUNTRY: UC Irvine remained No. 1 in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll. The Anteaters have been ranked in the nation's top 15 for 112 consecutive weeks. UCI has owned the top-ranked team for three weeks this season.
UCI is also No. 1 in the latest Asiscs/Volleyball Magazine poll.
The Anteaters have been ranked No. 1 in five different years (2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012) under head coach John Speraw. The Anteaters have held the No. 1 spot for 25 weeks.
CLARK NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior Carson Clark was named Sports Imports/AVCA Men's Division I-II National Player of the Week after helping the top ranked Anteaters to two wins on the road last week.
The opposite hit a blistering .667 with 17 kills to start the week in a 3-0 victory against then No. 13 Cal State Northridge. He also added two aces, two block assists and five digs versus the Matadors. In the final two sets at Northridge, Clark was almost unstoppable putting away 15 kills on 21 swings without an error (.714). He continued the hot hand in the first set versus No. 9 Long Beach State with four kills on seven attempts still not committing an error (.571). The opposite made an impact in the 3-0 victory versus the Forty-Niners with three aces and nine kills.
For the week, Clark bettered his season averages with 4.33 kills. 0.83 aces and 5.33 points while hitting .471. He committed just two hitting errors in six sets last week.
Clark currently ranks No. 1 in the country in ace average (0.56) and ranks eight in kills per set (3.68) and 10th in hitting percentage (.337).
This is the 19th time a UCI player has been named a Sports Imports/AVCA Player of the Week, with the most recent coming earlier this year when Kevin Tillie took home the honor on January 31. This marks the third time Clark has garnered the award in his career (April 4, 2011, April 12, 2010).
CLARK CLAIMS ONE MORE RECORD: Following last week's action, Carson Clark became UCI's all-time leader in kills with 1,712, moving ahead of Jimmy Pelzel who recorded 1,703 from 2001-04. He also owns the UCI career records for attack attempts (3,689) and aces (162).
NATION'S BEST IN FIVE CATEGORIES: UCI ranks first in the country in aces (1.82), kills (13.92), assists (13.16), hitting percentage (.367) and win/loss percentage (.857).
Senior Carson Clark leads the nation with a 0.56 ace average. Sophomore Jeremy Dejno is ranked seventh nationally with a 0.44 mark.
Kevin Tillie ranks second in the country in hitting percentage (.446), while Jeremy Dejno is sixth (.349) and Carson Clark is 10th (.337). Tillie is also eighth in kills per set (3.83) and Clark is 12th (3.68).
ANTEATERS WIN TWO LAST WEEK: The Anteaters swept Cal State Northridge and Long Beach State, 3-0 on the road last week.
Versus the Matadors, UCI hit a season-high .500 (49-8-82), committing six of their errors in the final set. Carson Clark led all players with 17 kills, hitting .667 (17-1-24) and firing two aces. Kevin Tillie and Jeremy Dejno added 11 kills with Dejno hitting .625 and Tillie leading the team in digs with six.
Tillie led the Anteaters with 14 kills and eight digs against the Forty-Niners, while hitting .571 (14-2-21). Dan McDonnell fired a career-high five aces and hit .600 (7-1-10) and Jeremy Dejno added 11 kills and seven digs.
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