Santa Barbara, Calif. – Junior middle blocker Collin Mehring hit a perfect 1.000 and tied the UC Irvine school record for hitting percentage in a match in the Anteaters' 3-0 (29-27, 25-22, 25-22) victory over Cal Baptist in the first match of the UCSB Invitational held in the Thunderdome Friday.
Mehring led the team in the season-opener with a career-high 11 kills on 11 swings with no errors. The 1.000 mark tied Aaron Harrell who went 13-0-13 against UC San Diego in 2008. The junior also added four total blocks and two service aces.
UCI sophomore Zack La Cavera joined Mehring with a career-high 11 kills, an ace and three digs. Junior outside hitter Jeremy Dejno had eight kills, while junior middle blocker Scott Kevorken added six kills and ace and four blocks assists. Libero Michael Brinkley posted a match-high 12 digs.
Cal Baptist had four players in double-digit kills led by Guiherme Koepp with 17. Kristopher Johnson recorded 12 kills followed by Aaron McCalmont and Levi Cabral with 11 kills each.
UCI trailed 20-17 in the first set before a kill by Zack La Cavera and a service ace by Scott Kevorken narrowed the deficit to 20-19. Three of the next four points were service errors then a Lancer attack error was followed by another La Cavera kill to give the Anteaters a 23-22 lead. The teams would trade points until 27-27 when a Cal Baptist attack error was followed by a solo block by Chris Austin to give UCI the set 29-27.
After Cal Baptist held a 19-17 advantage in the second set, UCI used a kill by La Cavera, two CBU attack errors, the last a block by Austin and Collin Mehring and a service ace by Travis Woloson to go ahead, 21-19. The Anteaters would win the set 25-22.
Cal Baptist tied the third set at 21-21, but a kill by Mehring was followed by a Lancer attack error and a kill by Jeremy Dejno to put the Anteaters on top 24-21. After a UCI service error, Mehring put away the match winner, 25-22.
No. 1 UC Irvine will play seventh-ranked Long Beach State, who swept Loyola-Chicago, 3-0, in the first match, at 7:30 p.m. tonight in the Thunderdome. UCLA beat UC Santa Barbara, 3-2 and will play UC San Diego, who defeated Lewis, 3-2 in the first match of the day. The tournament continues Saturday with opponent and time based on today's final results.
Please note: UC Santa Barbara does not provide statistics for tournament matches. Today's match statistics were graciously provided by the Cal Baptist Sports Information staff. Statistics for tonight's match against the Forty-Niners will not be provided and will be compiled and added to the website next week.
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