Anteaters Get Revenge

UC Irvine turns the tables on Penn State to advance to finals

May 4, 2007

By Spencer Elliott

Special to CSTV.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio - 364 days ago, the UC Irvine Anteaters were walking off the court in University Park, Pa., having just been upset and knocked out of the NCAA semifinals by Penn State. This year, they got a chance for some payback, and made the most of it.

Redemption was sweet for the No. 2 seed Anteaters on Thursday night as they took down the Nittany Lions 3-1 (30-25, 30-22, 26-30, 30-23) in the NCAA men's volleyball championship semifinal at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

"When we began the season, we talked a lot about the different types of goals that we were going to set," said UC Irvine coach John Speraw. "And we've been able to accomplish all but one, and now... (we've) put ourselves in a position to accomplish that."

UC Irvine had already exacted some revenge for their painful loss last year, beating Penn State at home, 3-1, on March 14, but that win would mean little if the Nittany Lions ended their season again.

"As soon as we knew we were going up against them, it was all business from there," said senior opposite Matt Webber. "We were ready for some redemption, so to be able to do that tonight, it's very fulfilling."

For Penn State, the loss meant an end to their hopes of making a return trip to the national title match. Last season, the Nittany Lions lost in the championship final to UCLA, 3-0.

"It seemed like any time we'd get some momentum, we'd end up shooting ourselves in the foot," said Penn State coach Mark Pavlik. "Anytime you let (UCI) hang around"

UC Irvine led by as many as eight in the first game, but both sides had trouble getting into an attacking rhythm. Penn State actually out-hit the Anteaters, .091 to .083, but also committed 5 service errors and played from behind for most of the game. Four aces from four different players boosted UC Irvine, who held off a late charge that saw the game tied at 24 and won going away on a kill by senior middle hitter David Smith.

After being tied at 14 in Game Two, the Nittany Lions fell into a hole they could not dig themselves out of. The Anteaters pushed their lead to 18-15 on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Taylor Wilson. Penn State called timeout to try and stop the bleeding, only to see the Anteaters reel off four consecutive points before they were forced to use their second timeout. The Nittany Lions never got within five points again as Webber put up nine kills, including the game-winner. Webber led all scorers with 23 points in the match, 11.5 of them coming in Game Two.

Penn State seemed to finally find a groove in the third set, hitting .630 and pulling away late, finally winning the game on an ace by junior setter Luke Murray. Murray had set up game point on a crafty dump over the net, catching the UC Irvine blockers unaware as they waited for him to set the ball.

"I think game three, and probably late in game two when I felt we settled down a little bit, there was some pretty good volleyball out there," Pavlik said. "We just needed to maintain it."

The Nittany Lions made a run in game four, having trailed since the early goings. UC Irvine's seven point lead was cut to three at 24-21 after a kill by sophomore outside hitter Matt Anderson who led Penn State with 16 kills. But some key blocks down the stretch helped set up game point for the Anteaters at 29-23, and Aaron Harrell split the defense for a kill that would send the Lions back home and UC Irvine to the national championship match.

"We just made the plays when we needed to," Speraw said.

UC Irvine will play for the national championship in the final match against the IPFW Mastodons on Saturday at 7 p.m.