Irvine, Calif. – UC Irvine captured its third MPSF championship with a 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23) win over Pepperdine at the Bren Events Center Friday.

With the win, UCI is the MPSF's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Championship held at Stanford next week.

The NCAA selection show will air tomorrow (May 2) at 10:00 a.m. on NCAA.com. Four automatic conference bids go to UC Irvine (MPSF), Penn State (EIVA), Loyola (MIVA) Pfeiffer (Conference Carolinas) plus two at-large bids. The top two seeds get a bye in to the semifinals Thursday (May7) with the four remaining teams competing in two play-in matches on Tuesday (May 5).

Selection show link -  http://www.ncaa.com/live/player?vid=2015/1966&date=2015/05/02

The Anteaters improve to 3-0 in MPSF title matches and 28-4 overall. The 28 wins is second most in school history, one behind the 2007 squad's record of 29. The Anteaters extend their winning streak to 10, which is the longest of the season.

UCI was led by Tournament Most Valuable Player Zack La Cavera with a career-high 26 kills. Libero Michael Brinkley and middle blocker Andrew Benz were also named to the All-Tournament Team. Brinkley had six digs, while Benz recorded eight kills and five total blocks.

Outside hitter Tamir Hershko added 14 kills and outside hitter Travis Woloson posted a careerand match-best 13 digs. Setters Michael Saeta and Roberto Frazzoni each totaled 26 set assists with Saeta firing a pair of aces. Middle blocker Jason Agopian also tallied eight kills in the win.

Josh Taylor led Pepperdine with 23 kills and six digs followed by Parker Kalmbach with 12 kills and eight digs and Scott Rhein with 10 kills. Setter Matt West recorded 45 set assists and a team-high nine digs.

UCI held 16-12 lead before the Waves rallied back tie the set at 17 all and took a 20-19 lead on a Matt Tarantino ace. Kills by Parker Kalmback and Josh Taylor gave Pepperdine the 22-20 lead but the Anteaters answered with a kill by Andrew Benz and an ace by Reid Dominquez. The teams would trade points before back to back kills by Tamir Hershko ended the set 25-23 for UCI.

Pepperdine hit a blistering .632 (13-1-19) and won the second set 25-21. A service error and a UCI attack that sailed long put the Waves ahead 15-12.UCI would get as close as 19-17, but  Pepperdine would score the next three, 22-17. The Anteaters hit .435 (15-5-23), but it wasn't enough to contain the red hot Waves.

Pepperdine jumped out to quick 4-1 lead in the third set and controlled most of the match, leading 19-16. The Anteaters would go on 5-2 run capped by a Hershko kill to tie the set at 21-21. Following a Pepperdine kill, UCI used a kill by La Cavera, an ace by Michael Saeta and  a block by Hersko and Jason Agopian to get to set point 24-22. The teams would each have a service error to help the Anteaters to a 25-23 victory. Unlike the second set the teams struggled offensively in the third with UCI hitting .200 (12-6-30) and Pepperdine .125 (9-5-32).

The teams remained close in the fourth set until UCI scored three straight, the last a kill by Agopian to gain the 17-13 advantage.  Pepperdine scored twice as UCI held match point to draw within 24-23, but Agopian knocked down the match winner with a kill in the middle.

Michael Brinkley, UC Irvine
Andrew Benz,  UC Irvine
Josh Taylor, Pepperdine
Brennan Anderson, Pepperdine
Sinisa Zarkovic, Hawaii
Micah Christenson, USC

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Zack La Cavera, UC Irvine

_________________________________________________________

For UC Irvine Athletics ticket information, please call (949) 824-5000 or e-mail athletics.tickets@uci.edu. For more information click here.

For information on how you can help support UC Irvine Athletics, please call (949) 824-6933 or e-mail aaf@uci.edu. For additional information, click here.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and by downloading the UCI Front Row app, available free to all Anteater fans through iTunes and Google Play, to view schedules, results, and up-to-the-minute news.