THIS WEEK
No. 2 UC Irvine at No. 3 Long Beach State · Saturday, Mar. 9 · 7:00 p.m. · Walter Pyramid
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No. 2 UC Irvine battles No. 3 Long Beach State Saturday (Mar. 9) at 7:00 p.m. in the Walter Pyramid.
Saturday's showdown with the Forty-Niners is part of the Black & Blue Rivalry Series presented by Duke's of Huntington Beach. UCI men's volleyball, women's tennis and men's basketball have won the last three contests between the two teams and the series is now tied 13-13.
Long Beach State enters the week 13-4 overall and 11-3 in the MPSF. The Forty-Niners will host UC San Diego on Wednesday before entertaining the Anteaters.
UCI trails Long Beach State (18-31) in the series records, but the Anteaters have won the last seven meetings against the Forty-Niners.
In the last meeting in Irvine, All-American outside hitter Kevin Tillie had 21 kills to lift UCI to a 3-2 victory. Opposite Zack La Cavera came off the bench to record 14 kills, three aces and six digs. Outside hitter Jeremy Dejno had 13 kills in three sets. Setter Daniel Stork started the match and totaled 31 set assists before going out with an injury in the third set. Senior Chris Austin stepped in and recorded 25 set assists, two digs and a block assist. Libero Michael Brinkley totaled a match-high nine digs.
Long Beach State was led by Taylor Crabb with 14 kills and eight digs followed by Dalton Ammerman with 11 kills. The Forty-Niners out-blocked UCI 9-4, but the Anteaters held a 35-29 dig advantage. UCI fired seven aces to LBSU's 2.
UCI defeated Long Beach State, 3-0 earlier this year in a non-conference match at the UCSB Invitational. Connor Hughes led a balanced Anteater attack with 10 kills. The Anteaters out-hit LBSU .432-.181 in the first meeting.
UCI is 15-4 overall and 12-4 in the MPSF. The 15 wins are the most by a team nationally this season and the 12 league wins are tied for the most in the MPSF.
UCI dropped one spot to No. 2 this week in the AVCA Coaches Poll. The Anteater have held the No. 1 ranking for seven weeks this season. The Anteaters have been ranked in the nation's top 15 for 129 consecutive weeks.
UCI was ranked No. 3 in the Volleyball Magazine Top 10 poll with Long Beach State checking in at No. 2.
The Anteaters, who have been ranked No. 1 in six different years (2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013), have held the No. 1 spot for 34 weeks all-time.
UCI split a pair of matches last week, beating No. 12 Cal Baptist, 3-2 and falling to No. 2 BYU, 3-2 at the Bren Center. The loss to the Cougars snapped UCI's 11-match winning streak.
Against the Lancers, Kevin Tillie had a team-high 13 kills, two aces and four block assists, while Zack La Cavera recorded 12 kills and a career-high seven block assists.
Versus the Cougars, middle blocker Collin Mehring set a school record with a career-high 14 block assists to go with 11 kills. Tillie led UCI in kills with 20 as well as recording 11 digs, four aces and five block assists. La Cavera had 15 kills, six digs and six block assists. The Anteaters fired a season-high nine service aces against BYU.
Mehring leads the country in blocks per set with a 1.41 average. The junior has recorded 40 blocks over the last four matches, including hitting a school record 14 block assists versus BYU. The 14 block assists also ties the season-high in the MPSF.
As a team, UCI is ranked second in hitting percentage (0.310) nationally and seventh in kills per set (12.73), eighth in assists (11.91) and 10th in blocks (2.6).
Mehring leads the MPSF in hitting percentage at .536, while Scott Kevorken is third (.485). Kevin Tillie is ranked sixth in aces (0.38) and is seventh in kills (3.84) and points (4.52). Libero Michael Brinkley is fourth in digs (2.47), while setter Daniel Stork is eighth in set assists (9.89). The MPSF has different criteria for ranking than the NCAA.
As a team, UCI is averaging 16.25 blocks over the last four matches. The Anteaters had a season-high 18.5 blocks versus Cal Baptist last week.
Next week, UCI stays on the road and travels to Pepperdine Tuesday (Mar. 12) and USC Friday (Mar. 15). Following the match with the Trojans, UCI will end the season with the final six regular-season matches at home.
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