BIG match Friday night #1 UCI vs #2 Hawaii

[anonymous]

It will be an exciting match Friday night at the Bren Center when UCI host Hawaii. Hopefully UCI can show the country that they really are #1. That could be difficult considering Hawaii and their professional volleyball players, I just don't understand how that is fair? Get 'em Eaters!!

[VBCrusin]

Can you name those "professional players" on the Hawaii squad? I've reviewed their roster and couldn't find any. Costas plays for the Greek National team, but many teams have a national team or junior national player on it. It seems that UCI is a well-balanced team with winning ways, so it'll be two great matches. I predict that they'll split.

Instead of passing on foolish "hearsay" information concerning "professional players" on any team, enjoy the Anteaters volleyball team and their exciting play. People who start complaining about unfair advantages seem to be looking for an excuse for a possible loss. UCI has a great chance of winning, so quit complaining.

Oh, by the way, I'm so glad UCI changed their mascot from the "Artichoke" to the "Anteater." ;D

[007]

Im baaaaaaaaaaaack. Here we go again, how dare anyone say ANYTHING derogatory about those man-eaters at Hawaii!!!!!

[ESPN Sports]

I hear the Hawaii vs. UCI game will be televised. Does anyone know by whom. I'd like to record the Game.

[Eater]

Probably just local TV. I think Cox has some sort of community programming station that gets all sorts of random stuff on it. I think it's channel 3 if you have cable from cox. At least that's who broadcasted it last time they televised a UCI game(about 2 years ago).

[V]

Warriors visit 10-0 Anteaters

By Grace Wen
[e-mail]

A year ago, it would have been preposterous to suggest that UC Irvine would be the only unbeaten team in the toughest conference in men's collegiate volleyball in 2003.

The Anteaters ended last season with a 12-17 overall record and had just six wins in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play. Their highest ranking during 2002 was 13th and they finished the season at No. 15.

This year, the Anteaters (10-0, 3-0 MPSF) have shot to No. 1 in the AVCA coaches poll for the first time in school history. Their ranking seems just as unlikely as their unblemished record. UCI has beaten everybody on its way to the best start in school history.

Its list of victims include perennial power UCLA, whom it defeated twice, Pepperdine, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara. The Anteaters have doubled their previous win total (1) against UCLA in a month.

Do all the victories have first-year head coach John Speraw scratching his head at the Anteaters' success? Yes.

"So far, so good," said Speraw, a former starting middle blocker for UCLA. "There's part of me that knows this is early in the season. Rankings in January as Hawaii knows, they're not as important. Being No. 1 is important at the end of the season.

"But this is great for the program. It's really great for these guys. They haven't had a whole lot of success in the past. Last year, they graduated six seniors from a team that didn't even make the playoffs. For these guys who have had sporadic playing time or haven't been able to put it together, to come in and start like this is a real boost for them."

Before this season, the Anteaters had 4-0 starts twice (1996, 1998). UCI has only had nine victories or more in a season six times in the program's 15 year history.

The Anteaters are rolling and if the second-ranked Warriors are reeling, Hawaii (5-1, 1-1) could get plowed over by UCI in this MPSF series.

The Warriors have a showdown with the Anteaters tomorrow at 5 p.m. Hawaii time. The match was moved to the Bren Events Center for a cable television broadcast and to accommodate a larger crowd.

Hawaii knows it must bring its game to another level this weekend and it can't afford to have any lapses.

"We have to play well, finish. Not sit on a lead. Keep our wits about us," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "They're going to be fired up. They've got a very scrappy team from what I hear. They've got a good ball control team."

Opposite Jimmy Pelzel has been all but unstoppable in the Anteaters' first 10 matches. The junior has been on a tear since switching from outside hitter to opposite. His supporting cast has been just as effective. Speraw says that UCI's strength is in a multi-pronged attack. On any given night, the Anteaters could have five hitters in double digits.

Speraw has been pounding it into his players heads that the goal is simply to get better.

"For early in the season, we play with remarkable consistency and poise," Speraw said. "The bottom line is we've been able to take advantage of other team's weaknesses more than they've been able to take advantage of ours.

"The other thing is that early in the season, nobody thought anything of playing UC Irvine. We had that going for us up until the second time we beat UCLA. We've really woken people up."

Hawaii promises it won't be caught snoozing.

"It's a tough team. I've played with these guys in club," setter Kimo Tuyay said. "They're really scrappy and they play well together. They play good defense. To me, it's going to be a tough match."

[SD FAN]

Kimo will be reunited with his good buddies from UCI. Jimmy Pelzel, Jaret Jensen, Spencer Bemus, these guys go back 4-5 years from Beach and Club Ball. Should be a great match, Pelzel is having a great season so far. Would like to see Jensen play more since he's a senior.
Kimo played with his young brother Dane (UCSB) in the AVP Manhattan Open Qualifier last summer and the Manhattan Six Man with Spencer and Dane. Good Luck.

[V]

No. 1 Anteaters face No. 2 Warriors today

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer


UC Irvine's success in men's volleyball has been so surprising this season that now the CIA is involved.

"Volleyball is huge," said Kurtis Matzkind, president of the Completely Insane Anteaters (CIA).

The CIA, which boasts a membership of 3,000 UC Irvine students, wears face paint and yellow T-shirts to matches, performs skits and cheers, and generally tries to annoy the opponents of the top-ranked Anteaters.

"Our motto is: Come out and be crazy," said Matzkind, a history major who served as CIA's vice-president last year.

"Last year's president is now president of the student government," Matzkind said. "I like to say he got the demotion and I got the promotion. He gets to deal with the politics, I get to deal with trying to work up the crowd."

His work has been eased by the Anteaters' astonishing start. They have had two winning seasons since rejoining the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in 1989. But after a 10-0 start, the Anteaters are ranked No. 1 in the USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association Top-15 Poll. Tonight's opponent, UH, is No. 2, creating a rare frenzy in volleyball-rich Orange Country.

"It's No. 1 against No. 2 on our campus, and that hasn't happened very much," said John Speraw, the Anteaters' first-year head coach.

The match has been moved from 700-seat Crawford Hall, where there have been several standing-room-only crowds this season, to the 5,000-seat Bren Events Center.

"We're expecting a crowd of up to 3,000, and that absolutely will break our attendance record," said Blake Sasaki, UC Irvine's assistant athletic director in charge of marketing.

This year's promotions included posters, newspaper ads and meet-the-player sessions. The biggest seller has been the Anteaters' play. They have twice defeated 18-time national champion UCLA.

Speraw has made some minor adjustments, such as moving Jimmy Pelzel from left-side hitter to opposite hitter. But his biggest contributions have been emphasizing fundamentals and "looking at the big picture."

Those were ideas instilled at UCLA, where he was a middle blocker on two national championship teams and and later served as an assistant coach.

"I didn't want to re-invent the wheel," Speraw said, "and the UCLA wheel has been working well. Most, if not everything, of what I've learned about volleyball was taught to me by (UCLA coach) Al Scates."

Sasaki said Speraw even has attracted his own group of fans.

"He used to coach at UCLA, so many UCLA fans follow him," Sasaki said. "A lot of them have adopted the Anteaters. He's beaten UCLA twice. He knows UCLA's system. It's like (Tampa Bay Buccaneer coach Jon) Gruden figuring out the Raiders."