UCI-BYU

[banthony2]

UCI wins the first game 30-19.

[VBbeast]

doh! i guess that rules out the 2-0 BYU victory

that is a bit surprising though. Who is starting for BYU at OH?

[banthony2]

I know. I was waaay off. I was hoping they would win the second game something like 30-4 and UCI would refuse to come back out, making my prediction correct. Oh well.

OH: Cala and Perez
S: Perez
OPP: Stowell
MB: Sorenson and Holmes

[VBbeast]

got the web cast going now looks like this is going to be a better match than the game 1 30-19 would have led one to believe.

[fingrbustr]

UCI in 5. Incredible match.

[kalena12]

does anybody have scores or details of this match?

[fingrbustr]

Can't find the box score yet. Quick observations:

-Jablonsky, Webber & Smith huge down the stretch. All showed senior leadership...great to see.

-Reinholm replaced Wilson near the end of GM2 I believe and never left the lineup. Cole had a couple of bad passes, but he was pretty much able to hit himself out of both (I can only remember 1 error attacking on the RS). I'm guessing he had around 8 kills but they were HUGE.

-UCI's blocking really picked up as the match wore one. Webber had two huge solos on Cala -- the last one to end the match.

-Jablonksy has to be in the 20-25 kill range, w/ a very good percentage. He was of course automatic out of the low pipe.

-Yamil Perez pretty impressive, especially for a frosh. They hid him on the left side a few times to avoid matching up w/ Jablonsky, but other than that he was great (save for a few errant sets). YP's a tough server and above average defender already. Just needs to learn to run the middle when he's farther than 4ft off the net, IMO. Although Thornton is in no way his athletic equal, you can see he's much more effective at staying in system off the net.

-Stowell was up & down and probably hit in the .200s, but he had some might crafty kills on the R side.

-Cala very uneven from what I saw, as I've seen in the past. I've said it before and I'll say it again...that guy IS NOT the one you want to take your final 3 swings. He hit out and then got solo'd to end the match. Both sets were very good...just bad choices.

-Interestingly enough, even when the passes were there Holmes was largely ignored for 3/5 of the match. BYU could've used him much more IMO.

UCI's seniors had to make a final stand to have any chance at the at-large -- well done. BYU is relatively young and should be again very tough next year. Incredible late night at the Fieldhouse!

[fingrbustr]

Box: www.mvball.uci.edu/Boxscores/2007/mpsf06.htm

[fingrbustr]

Geez...I didn't think Cala's #'s would be that horrible (14-11-44, .068). Like I said last year, Cala is a physical freak but Jablonsky (24-7-48, .354) much better when the stakes are high.

And it looks like Reinholm replaced Wilson in GM3. Check out his 67% kill percentage (8/12)...nuts.

[robonthemic]

Here's the release:

Boxscores can be found at www.mvball.uci.edu

April 26, 2007

UC IRVINE TAKES DOWN BYU IN FIVE; ADVANCES TO MPSF FINAL (Boxscore)

Malibu, Calif. -- UC Irvine battled back after being down 2-1 to topple BYU in five games (30-19, 28-30, 27-30, 30-27, 15-10) in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Thursday at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

UCI improves to 26-5 overall and advances to the MPSF Championship match for the first time in school history where they will face top seed Pepperdine at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

The Anteaters jumped out to a 5-1 lead in game five behind the serving of freshman Cole Reinholm. The Cougars rallied to close within 11-8 on a pair of Ivan Perez service aces, but Brian Thornton and David Smith clamped down on a Yosleyder Cala attempt to give UCI the 12-8 cushion. A Jayson Jablonsky kill put UCI up 13-10, before two more Cala attacking errors, the last on a solo block by Matt Webber ended the game 15-10 and the match 3-2.

It is the second consecutive five game victory for UCI as the Anteaters beat Hawaii, 3-2 in the quarterfinal round. UCI's last seven victories over BYU have come in five games. The Cougars go to 23-6 overall.

The score was tied 3-3 when UCI went on a 6-1 run which included service aces by Jablonsky and Webber to take the 9-4 advantage. The Anteaters would keep rolling extending the lead to 22-13 on a Harrell kill. UC Irvine would go on to win the set 30-19 behind Matt Webber's six kills. Webber hit .556, while Jablonsky added four kills and hit .571 (4-0-7). Smith recorded four block assists and totaled three kills on five swings.

BYU was in control of game two when the Anteaters rallied to knot the score at 15-15 on a Smith ace. The score would remain close until a UCI service error was followed by an attack error giving the Cougars the 27-25 cushion. Two kills by Jablonsky narrowed the score to 29-28, but Matt Webber's service sailed long to give BYU the 30-28 game.

BYU won game three 30-27. The contest was close until the Cougars rattled off four straight to take a 21-16 lead. UCI pulled within 29-27 on a Webber kill, but a BYU block ended the set. The Anteaters committed nine service errors.

UCI won game four behind eight Jablonsky kills and five kills from Reinholm to force the deciding fifth game.

UCI's Jablonsky led all players with 24 kills followed by Webber with 21. David Smith added nine kills on an errorrless night (9-0-19) and had a team-high six blocks assists. Reinholm finished with eight kills hitting .500 (8-2-12). Setter Brian Thornton tallied 63 set assists, eight digs and five blocks, while Brent Asuka led the 'Eaters with 10 digs.

Cala paced BYU with 14 kills followed by Ivan Perez and Robby Stowell with 12 apiece. Joel Silva led all players with 14 digs.

UCI hit .342 for the match while BYU hit just .189.

[robonthemic]

Being at the match Irvine played well balanced ball. Although attention is paid to the numbers Jablo and WEbber put up you can't ignore the key contributions by the other team members. You had Reinholm stepping up off the bench getting huge kills on what would normally be broken plays, Thornton's one handed saves to feed Webber, Smith's blocking and timely kills, Harrell's athleticism, Stellar & Simpson coming off the bench to serve for key points, Asuka passing/digging & Wilson early in games 1 & 2. Tonight defined a great team effort with the X-factor of the night going to Reinholm. The freshman coming off the bench dropping bombs on the Cougar side.

When I saw the stat sheet I did not realize that both Cala and Stowell hit so poorly. I was more surprised by Cala especially after the MPSF & AVCA POTW honors. He definitely had a down night-- bad timing for BYU. I was also surprised that they didn't start Santos. Sorensen is okay but Santos was doing damage. Call me crazy but the BYU lineup seemed better with Santos in it.

[volleyfred]

fingrbustr said:

Geez...I didn't think Cala's #'s would be that horrible (14-11-44, .068). Like I said last year, Cala is a physical freak but Jablonsky (24-7-48, .354) much better when the stakes are high.

And it looks like Reinholm replaced Wilson in GM3. Check out his 67% kill percentage (8/12)...nuts.

I was at the match and wanted to respond to this post.

There is no doubt that Cala played very poorly when in counted.

For most of the match, and looking statistically Jablonsky played like an all American.

However, Jablonsky looked shaky a few times when the stakes were high.

Game four, down 2 games to 1, BYU pressing, UCI up 22-23, Jablonsky served a slow jump serve into the bottom of the net.

Game five, 11-6 BYU serving, ACE on Jablonsky on a roll shot jump serve by Perez. 11-7 BYU serving, ACE on Jablonsky on a roll shot jump serve by Perez. 11-8 BYU serving, serve to Jablonsky, again a roll shot, Jablonsky shanks the ball to the right, play over to BYU, Cala bails UCI (and Jablonsky) out by hitting the ball cross court into the bottom of the net.

Game five, either 12-10, or 12-9... not sure, long rally, pipe set to Jablonsky, broken block only one up, Jablonsky swinging cross court (away) toward the libero, mis-hit the ball, off of his wrist, ball hits the line near the setter... Normally he destroys those balls.

I am happy that UCI won. I have watched Jablonsky play, think he is outstanding, like his demeanor on the court, like his all around game, and saw many plays that he did perform very well during the match. He did have some great swings. I just think that a former Player of the Year shouldn't get aced twice, then shank a ball and almost let BYU back in... Then mis-hit the ball (still in) on a crucial swing. If Cala plays just a little better, the match would have been different.

Webber was huge for UCI tonight. He really effected Cala tonight by blocking him several times.

[robonthemic]

volleyfred said:

fingrbustr said:

Webber was huge for UCI tonight. He really effected Cala tonight by blocking him several times.

Jablonsky & Webber came up HUGE tonight. Being a follower of Webber's career this night had to be the biggest blocking nights he has ever had. His solos on Cala couldn't have been timed better. Cala swings were so hard on those blocks that it magnified the impact of the ball hitting the floor throwing the 'Eater crowd into a frenzy.

Great battle at PEP between UCI & BYU. I've got to catch up on sleep. Getting home at 1:30 am after the match is killing me.

[lalalaluuuke]

How much do you think the ankle affected Cala, and for that matter Ivan Perez? I'm sad for BYU, happy for the UCI guys. I hope they win it all.

[banthony2]

That pipe set to Jablonksy worked like a charm. UCI really did a great job tonight. Once they staved off BYU's run in Game 4 the match was basically over. They stepped up in game 5 the way a Final Four team should.