Stanford Surprises Irvine

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UCI 3, Pacific 0

Vinson Gotingco/New University

After taking a tough loss to Stanford, the No. 2 UC Irvine men’s volleyball team came back on their feet Saturday night at Crawford Court with a 3-0 sweep over No. 12 University of the Pacific. The victory gives UCI a 6-3 record in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and a 10-3 record overall.

Senior Carson Clark and sophomore Jeremy Dejno hit 12 kills each while junior Kevin Tillie knocked down 10. Sophomore Daniel Stork totaled 36 set assists and freshman libero Michael Brinkley made a match-high five digs.

With the set tied 7-7, Clark opened up a huge run for UCI with a kill and a block. Senior Dan McDonnell followed with a block and Stork scored a service ace to give UCI an 11-7 lead. After a service error, UCI pulled away with six straight points behind Tillie’s serving to lead 18-8. Irvine secured the first set 25-16.

In the second set, Irvine pulled away with a 17-9 lead after a 6-0 run. Their lead was never in jeopardy as they won the set 25-16.

The Anteaters took the third set without any problems as they opened up with a 7-1 lead. They finished off the Tigers without any problems, winning their final set 25-17.

Stanford 3, UCI 0

Friday night’s blowout came unexpectedly to the No. 2 UC Irvine men’s volleyball team as they suffered an upset home loss to No. 4 Stanford 3-0. The loss gives UCI a 5-3 record in MPSF and 9-3 overall.

The team did not finish their sets as much as they wanted to. Junior Kevin Tillie was the only Anteater with double-digit finishes as he knocked down 10 kills while senior Carson Clark made eight. Sophomore Jeremy Dejno followed with six kills and sophomore Daniel Stork recorded 37 assists.

The Anteaters had built a solid lead in the first set, holding a 22-16 advantage; however, the Cardinal made an impressive comeback featuring five blocks to tie the score at 25 apiece. UCI tried to finish the set with eight set-point attempts, but they failed to capitalize after a service error and a kill from Stanford cost them the set 32-30.

Stanford took advantage of UCI’s seven service errors in the second set as they managed to dominate the Anteaters 25-15.

UCI showed some life in the third set while down 17-12 by going on a 6-1 run to tie the set 18 apiece. The two teams exchanged points back and forth until Stanford took advantage of UCI’s service error and scored a kill to lead 22-20. After freshman Zack La Cavera made a kill and Stanford committed an attack error, Irvine was tied at 22. However, Stanford put on a 3-1 run to seal the game.