THIS WEEK
No. 11 Cal Baptist at No. 1 UC Irvine · Wednesday, Feb. 27 · 7:00 p.m. · Bren Events Center
Live Stats
No. 2 BYU at No. 1 UC Irvine · Friday, Mar. 1 · 7:00 p.m. · Bren Events Center
Live Stats
QUICK HITS
No. 1 UCI will host No. 12 Cal Baptist Wednesday (Feb. 27) and No. 2 BYU Friday (Mar. 1). Both matches begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Bren Events Center.
This week's matches features three the nation's best offensive teams. UCI is ranked second in hitting percentage (.323) and third in kills per set (13.06). BYU leads the country in hitting percentage (.328) and Cal Baptist is first in kills (13.06) and fourth in hitting percentage (.313). The Anteaters also ranks fourth in assists and second in winning percentage (.824). Individually, UCI's Kevin Tillie is ranked fourth in country in hitting percentage (.374), while BYU's Taylor Sander is seventh (.352). Cal Baptist's Levi Cabral tops the country in kills (4.41).
The Anteaters lead Cal Baptist (10-3), but trail BYU (37-14) in the series records.
Cal Baptist, who is a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation this season, is 6-7 overall and 3-5 in the MPSF.
In the last meeting, Cal Baptist upset No. 1 UCI in its first official Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match, 3-2 after dropping the first two sets. The Anteaters were led by Jeremy Dejno with a season-high 21 kills. Kevin Tillie had 15 kills, four aces and two block assists. Cal Baptist had a trio of players with double-figure kills lead by Guilherme Koepp with 21 followed by Aaron McCalmont with 18 kills and Levi Cabral with 17.
UCI and Cal Baptist also met on Jan. 4 at the UCSB Invitational with the Anteaters winning the match 3-0. Collin Mehring and 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.
With the addition of the Lancers, UCI will now play a home and away series with BYU each year.
BYU enters the week 11-3 on the year and 10-2 in the MPSF.
The Cougars won the first meeting in Provo, 3-1. Tillie led UCI with a season-high 19 kills and three block assists, while Dejno added 16 kills and a team-high 10 digs. Setter Daniel Stork recorded 46 set assists in his first start of the season. BYU's Taylor Sander recorded a team-best 16 kills followed by Russell Lavaja and Rivera with 12 kills each.
UCI is 14-3 overall and 11-3 in the MPSF. The 14 wins are the most by a team nationally this season and the 11 league wins is the most in the MPSF.
The Anteaters have won 10 straight matches, the longest winning streak by an MPSF team this year.
UCI holds the top spot in the AVCA Coaches Poll for the fourth consecutive week and for the seventh time this season. The Anteaters have been ranked in the nation's top 15 for 128 consecutive weeks. UCI was also ranked No. 1 the Volleyball Magazine Top 10 poll.
The Anteaters have held the No. 1 spot for 34 weeks all-time.
The Anteaters have been ranked No. 1 in six different years (2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013).
Last week, UCI won a pair of matches against No. 11 Hawaii.
The Anteaters had a season-high 16.0 blocks in the first match then 13.5, the second most this year, in the second match.
The team recorded kills and 44 digs which were both the second most this year.
In the first contest, Kevin Tillie had a season-high 22 kills to go with 12 digs Middle blocker Collin Mehring hit .800, on a career-high 13 kills with one error in 15 attempts. He also recorded a career-high nine total blocks.
On the second night, Tillie led all players with 10 kills. Mehring rejected seven more blocks on Tuesday.
Middlle blocker Collin Mehring lead the MPSF in hitting percentage with a .547 mark (105-17-161). Middle blocker Scott Kevorken is fourth (.487) and outside hitter Kevin Tillie is 11th (.375) in hitting percentage. Tillie is the only non-middle blocker ranked in the Top 10.
Tillie is also ranked sixth in kills (3.94), seventh in points (4.55) and seventh in service aces (0.33).
Libero Michael Brinkley is third in the MPSF in digs at a 2.40 clip, while opposite Zack La Cavera is 13th in service aces (0.28) and setter Daniel Stork is ranked seventh (9.98) in set assists.
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