Irvine, Calif. -- UC Irvine head men's volleyball coach John Speraw was named 2012 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year after capturing the MPSF Tournament and qualifying for the NCAA Championship.
Speraw, in his 10th year at UCI, led the Anteaters to its fourth NCAA Championship appearance after the Anteaters won their second MPSF Tournament Championship by a pair of five-set, come-from-behind wins in the conference semifinal and final. UCI was the fourth seed for the league tournament, finishing in a tie for second in the league standings with a 17-5 record.
UCI enters the week 24-5 overall and will face Penn State in a NCAA Championship semifinal Thursday (May 3) at 6:00 p.m. at the Galen Center. UCI's 24 overall wins is the fourth most in school history, while the 17 MPSF wins were tied for third most. Lewis has a nation's best 26 wins with UCI and BYU following with 24.
UCI has been ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 all but two weeks this season. The Anteaters have been ranked No. 1 in five different years (2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012) under Speraw.
Speraw guided the Anteaters to its first national championship in 2007 then won his second in 2009. With UCI's first national championship, Speraw became the only individual to have won a title as a head coach, assistant coach and player.
Speraw, was named 2006 AVCA National Coach of the Year as well as Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and Volleyball Magazine Coach of the Year. He has been a finalist for National Coach of the Year three times.
Speraw is currently an assistant coach for the U.S. men's indoor volleyball team and was an assistant with the team that won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In March of 2011, Speraw received the U.S. Olympic Achievement Award, an honor that recognizes the colleges and universities whose coaches and student-athletes have won Olympic medals in the past two Olympic Games.
He is a 1995 graduate of UCLA, playing middle blocker for the Bruins from 1990-95. He also served as an assistant coach at UCLA before coming to UCI.
Speraw has mentored both the AVCA Division I-II Men's National Player of the Year and the AVCA Division I-II Men's Newcomer of the Year in 2006. UC Irvine players have earned All-American distinction 21 times since Speraw arrived at UCI, including nine first-teamers. While at Irvine, Speraw's players have also garnered MPSF Player of the Year, MPSF Freshman of the Year, NCAA Championship MVP, NCAA All-Tournament Team, numerous national and conference Player of the Week honors as well as academic distinctions such as Academic All-American, MPSF & UCI Scholar-Athletes and Lauds & Laurels Athlete of the Year. Under Speraw's leadership, the men's volleyball team has had no fewer than five scholar-athletes each year.
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