Men’s volleyball: Getting ready for a new challenge

Amara Aguilar

Serve’s up.

The UC Irvine men’s volleyball team begins the season today by hosting

the Wyndham West Coast Challenge featuring squads from USC, Pepperdine

and UCLA.

The Anteaters will battle the Bruins in Crawford Hall tonight at 7.

UCI is coming off a 30-20, 30-18, 30-17, exhibition victory over visiting

California Tuesday.

Erick Helenihi and Russ Marchewka led UCI with seven kills each.

Helenihi, a senior middle blocker, is one of the top returning players

for the Anteaters. He was an AVCA second-team All-American last year and

a first-team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation selection.

“He is probably the most talented offensive player we have,” UCI Coach

Charlie Brande said.

Brande said his team has a good variety of players. There are six

seniors, seven sophomores, four juniors and five freshman.

“It’s a good mix,” Brande said. “This is the first point in my six

years being at UCI that we can redshirt all of our freshmen. We’ve never

had this much strength in our upper classmen.”

In addition to Helenihi, key returners include sophomore outside

hitter Jimmy Pelzel, senior middle blocker Brenden Watumull, junior

outside hitter Monte Tucker and junior setter Jarett Jensen.

“We have experience from our team that made a run at the end of last

year and ended up ranked seventh,” Brande said.

The national ranking was the highest for the UCI men’s volleyball

program. The Anteaters advanced to the MPSF championships for the second

time in school history last season, but lost to eventual champion BYU in

the first round.

UCI finished last season with a 13-13 overall record and 8-9

conference record. The Anteaters picked up five-game victories over USC,

then ranked third, and Pepperdine. The team also swept Stanford.

The Anteaters didn’t lose many players from last year’s squad. Only

two seniors were lost, Todd Steinert and Tyler Loomis.

“This year as opposed to last year, we are much more experienced than

we have been,” Brande said. “We’ve been to the playoffs and have an idea

of what we are going to need.”

Brande said one of his team’s strengths is size. The Anteaters have

only one player under six feet tall. At 6-foot-8, Helenihi is the tallest

UCI player. Pelzel checks in at 6-6. Watumull, 6-6, will also add

presence on the court.

“Our size is much better than last year,” Brande said. “With all of

our guys on the floor at the same time who are six feet or taller, it

will allow us to match up with UCLA, Pepperdine, Hawaii and other top

schools.”

While the veterans will anchor the team, newcomer David Kniffin will

play a prominent role and could be a starting setter for UCI.

Kniffin, a sophomore, transferred from Pierce College where he helped

the team win a state title last season.

Brande has 22 players on his roster and believes that will help the

Anteaters mix it up against opponents.

“Another strength of our team is our ability to put in different

lineups and different combinations and give it a different look,” Brande

said. “In the conference, if you have one style and one system, the other

teams will adjust and do what they can to adjust.”

UCI will face host UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. to open MPSF

competition.

UC Irvine men’s volleyball roster

Spencer Bemus, OH 6-5 So.

Jimmy Pelzel, OH 6-6 So.

Nic Vislay, MB 6-4 Fr.

Chuck Niemoth, S 6-2 Sr.

David Kniffin, S 6-2 So.

Casey Swenson, OH 6-3 Sr.

Monte Tucker, OH 6-3 Jr.

Brenden Watumull, MB 6-6 Sr.

Mike Garcia, OH 6-3 Jr.

Devin Shea, OH 6-4 Sr.

Ryan Perry, OH 6-0 Fr.

Erick Helenihi, MB 6-8 Sr.

Wade Ichinose, OPP 6-1 Jr.

Jarett Jensen, S 6-5 Jr.

Kyle Weichert, MB 6-7 So.

Kurt Gurdal, OH 6-4 Fr.

Erik Smith, S 6-2 So.

Matt Daniels, OH 6-3 Fr.

Edwin Enwia, L 5-10 Fr.

B.J. Fell, OH 6-4 So.

Russ Marchewka, OH 6-6 So.

Kaipo Kealalio, S 6-1 Sr.