THIS WEEK
MPSF Matches
No. 8 UC Irvine at Cal Baptist · Wednesday, Mar. 12 · 7:00 p.m. PT · Van Dyne Gym
Live Stats Video
No. 8 UC Irvine at No. 3 BYU · Friday, Mar. 14 · 6:00 p.m. PT · Smith Fieldhouse
Live Stats BYU TV
QUICK HITS
No. 8 UC Irvine remains on the road heading to Cal Baptist Wednesday (Mar. 12) at 7:00 p.m. in Van Dyne Gym then No. 3 BYU Friday (Mar. 7) at Smith Fieldhouse beginning at 6:00 p.m. PT
Friday's match against the Cougars will be broadcast live on BYUtv.
The Anteaters enter the week 13-8 overall and 10-7 in the MPSF.
UCI has won four in a row and six of the last seven outings. The Anteaters four consecutive wins is the second longest streak in the MPSF behind Long Beach State's six in a row.
Cal Baptist is 4-14 overall and 2-13 in the MPSF.
The Anteaters hold a 12-3 advantage over the Lancers in the series records.
In the first meeting of the year, UCI hit .514 in a 3-0 victory at the Bren Center. UCI committed only eight miscues the entire match as Connor Hughes (8-0-13), Andrew Benz (6-0-7) and Collin Mehring (4-0-5) were errorless offensively. Zack La Cavera led the team with 15 kills. The .514 hitting percentage (45-8-72) is the best in the MPSF this season. Jonathan Tuttle led the Lancers with eight kills.
UCI trails BYU 41-12 in the series records all-time. The Anteaters beat the Cougars 3-0 in the national championship match a year ago.
In another epic battle and for the second consecutive year at Bren Center, the Cougars rallied to beat the Anteaters, 3-2. Tamir Hershko led UCI with a career-high 25 kills and four blocks, while Jeremy Dejno totaled 16 kills, eight digs and three total blocks. Travis Woloson had a career-best nine kills and eight digs. Libero Michael Brinkley popped up a season-best 18 digs. The Cougars were led by Taylor Sander with 25 kills and nine digs. Tyler Heap dished a career-high 54 assists.
The Anteaters out-hit (.289-.285) and out-blocked (12-9) BYU, while the Cougars had one more dig (51-50). Both teams fired six aces.
BYU, who is 13-4 overall and 13-2 in the MPSF, fell to No. 3 in this week's poll after losing 3-1 at Long Beach State and defeating Cal State Northridge 3-1 on the road.
The Anteaters are the start of a five-match homestand for the Cougars.
UCI is coming off a sweep of Hawaii, winning the first match 3-1 then holding on for a 3-2 victory the second night.
The Anteaters are the first team to beat Hawaii twice at home this year.
In the first meeting with Hawaii, Scott Kevorken and Zack La Cavera topped the squad with 12 kills each. Jeremy Dejno and Connor Hughes each added 11 kills from the outside and libero Michael Brinkley recorded a match-high 17 digs.
UCI's offense clicked in the final two sets, committing just two attack errors and hitting .700 (23-2-30).
On the second night, Dejno pounded a season-high 21 kills and tied his career-high with 10 digs. La Cavera had 13 kills, tied his career-best with six aces and recorded a season-high six total blocks. Hughes recorded 11 kills and eight digs, while Kevorken added six kills and a match-high seven total blocks.
Stork came off the bench in each match last week to lead the Anteaters to victories. He totaled 32 set assists and two aces the first night and posted 27 set assists over three sets in the second outing.
The Anteaters are ranked fourth in the country in hitting percentage (.308) and fifth in kills (13.14) and aces (1.36).
Middle blocker Scott Kevorken ranks seventh nationally in hitting percentage at a .438 clip, while opposite Zack La Cavera is 10th in aces at 0.42 and 15th in points with a 4.37 average.
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