THIS WEEK
Match: No. 1 UC Irvine at No. 14 Cal Baptist · Wednesday, Jan. 16 · 7:00 p.m. PT · Van Dyne Gym
Live Stats Video
Match: No. 1 UC Irvine at No. 3 BYU · Friday, Jan. 18 · 6:00 p.m. PT· Smith Fieldhouse
Live Stats BYU TV
QUICK HITS
UCI travels to No. 14 Cal Baptist Wednesday (Jan. 16) for a 7:00 p.m. match PT then heads to BYU Friday (Jan. 18) for a 6:00 p.m. PT match in Provo, UT.
UCI and Cal Baptist met on Jan. 4 at the UCSB Invitational with the Anteaters winning the match 3-0. Middle blocker Collin Mehring and opposite Zack La Cavera led UCI with 11 kills each. Mehring tied a UCI match record going 11-0-11 (1.000) against the Lancers. Four Cal Baptist players recorded double-figure kills led by Guilherme Koepp with a match-best 17.
Cal Baptist is a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation this season with Wednesday's match counting in the league standings.
With the addition of the Lancers, UCI will now play a home and away series with BYU each year.
UCI leads CBU 10-2 in the series records, but trails BYU 36-14 overall.
Last season, BYU took two matches against UCI in Irvine. In the first match the Cougars swept UCI, 3-0. BYU's Taylor Sander put away 17 of 22 attempts with one miscue to hit .727. Outside hitter Jeremy Dejno totaled UCI with 11 kills.
In the second meeting, the Cougars topped UCI, 3-2 La Cavara paced UCI in the second match with 10 kills in four sets. Robb Stowell posted 21 kills with Sander adding 18 in the win for BYU.
UCI is ranked No. 1 for the third straight week in the AVCA Coaches Poll. The Anteaters have been ranked in the nation's top 15 for 122 consecutive weeks.
UCI is also ranked No. 1 in the Asics/Volleyball Magazine poll.
The Anteaters have been ranked No. 1 in six different years (2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013). The Anteaters have held the No. 1 spot for 30 weeks all-time.
UCI began last week defeating No. 4 Pepperdine, 3-0 at home. Zack La Cavera hit .577 (16-1-26), while Kevin Tillie followed with eight kills. Collin Mehring led the Anteaters with six block assists.
The Anteaters had a 10-match winning streak dating back to last season snapped with a 3-0 loss to No. 8 USC last Friday. It was UCI's first loss since April 7, 2012.
UCI hit .183 (37-20-93) for the match, including .030 (10-9-33) in the final set.
Kevin Tillie had a season-high nine kills to lead UCI against the Trojans.
UCI has seven players averaging over 2.00 kills per set. Opposite Zack La Cavara leads the team in kill average at 3.69.
Middle blocker Collin Mehring leads the team at the net with a 1.50 blocking average. Mehring had a season-high seven block assists against USC.
UCI will play seven of the next eight matches on the road. The Anteaters' lone match in that stretch is on Jan. 25 when they host Black & Blue rival Long Beach State.
Junior Collin Mehring will be a guest on the Blue & Gold Report airing live Tuesday (Jan. 15) at 5:00 p.m. on KUCI 88.9 FM. The interview will also be archived at http://www.kuci.org/sports.shtml
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