Post by bigfan on Apr 27, 2006 10:16:18 GMT -5
UCI men fail to disappoint this year
The secret of the UC Irvine men's volleyball team's success? Failure.
"We were 9-20 last year," John Speraw, coach of the No.1 team in the nation said. "We've had our fair share of losing. No one has forgotten that."
People are beginning to remember the Anteaters (27-3), who have the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's player (outside hitter Jayson Jablonsky), freshman (setter Brent Asuka) and coach (Speraw) of the year.
"All our guys are darkhorses," Speraw said. "No one expected us to be good. We've done it with balance all year. We're not going to do anything different."
UCI, winner of a school-record 21 consecutive matches, faces No.4 seed Long Beach State in the second of the two semifinals matches tonight at 7:30 at the Bren Center.
Pepperdine, the No.3 seed, meets No. 7 UCLA in the first semifinal match at 5 p.m. If UCI beats Long Beach and UCLA defeats Pepperdine, it would set up a match between Speraw and his alma mater.
The winner of the MPSF title match (Saturday, 7 p.m. at the Bren Center) gets an automatic bid for the NCAA Final Four (May 4-6 at Penn State).
The secret of the UC Irvine men's volleyball team's success? Failure.
"We were 9-20 last year," John Speraw, coach of the No.1 team in the nation said. "We've had our fair share of losing. No one has forgotten that."
People are beginning to remember the Anteaters (27-3), who have the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's player (outside hitter Jayson Jablonsky), freshman (setter Brent Asuka) and coach (Speraw) of the year.
"All our guys are darkhorses," Speraw said. "No one expected us to be good. We've done it with balance all year. We're not going to do anything different."
UCI, winner of a school-record 21 consecutive matches, faces No.4 seed Long Beach State in the second of the two semifinals matches tonight at 7:30 at the Bren Center.
Pepperdine, the No.3 seed, meets No. 7 UCLA in the first semifinal match at 5 p.m. If UCI beats Long Beach and UCLA defeats Pepperdine, it would set up a match between Speraw and his alma mater.
The winner of the MPSF title match (Saturday, 7 p.m. at the Bren Center) gets an automatic bid for the NCAA Final Four (May 4-6 at Penn State).
