The Speraw Era begins with two wins

Steve Virgen

UC Irvine men’s volleyball first-year coach John Speraw was a bit

skeptical when he became the head man of the Anteaters in July.

Though this was his dream job, he expected it would be challenging

right off the bat.

UCI had just finished the season 12-17, 6-16 in the Mountain

Pacific Sports Federation. In addition, six seniors graduated from

that Anteater squad that didn’t qualify for the playoffs.

“I didn’t know what I was going to get when I first walked in the

gym to be quite honest,” said Speraw, who had served as a full-time

assistant coach at UCLA the past four years, including the 2000

season when the Bruins captured the NCAA championship. “I wasn’t

expecting a whole lot based on the results from last year.”

However, Speraw quickly realized he inherited a mature group which

possessed a strong motivation to improve.

“They’re very motivated,” Speraw said. “So far I think they are

much better than what people realize. I think people are going to be

surprised.”

So far, the Anteaters are living up to their coach’s words.

UCI, led by junior Jimmy Pelzels’s 12 kills and senior Monte

Tucker’s 11 kills, swept Pepperdine Monday night to claim the Millie

& Severson Tournament title at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu. The

Anteaters also swept La Verne and Arizona’s club team in the

tournament. Since, the Arizona match did not count toward their

record, the ‘Eaters are 2-0 on the season.

UCI will compete in the UC Santa Barbara Invitational Friday and

Saturday in Santa Barbara. The Anteaters face Stanford in its first

match Friday night at 7:00.

Speraw said he has been impressed with his players’ maturity. The

Anteaters features nine juniors and three seniors, including Tucker,

Jarett Jensen and Jerome Gemise-Fareau.

“They are a very mature group of guys,” Speraw said. “I think they

are also in a position where they were disappointed with how they

finished last season. I think they felt they underachieved in some

ways and had higher expectations from where they actually ended up.

And, I think they are really ready to be successful this year.

They’re working like they want to win.”

Speraw said he wants his squad to be defensively sound this

season. Tucker would be one of the leaders on defense. His blocking

skills are usually strong enough to take on opponents’ best hitter.

“I really want to establish our team as being a good defensive

blocking team,” Speraw said. “If you look at the skills which are the

most important in being successful in men’s volleyball, blocking is

probably right up there. It’s highly technical. My main focus during

the fall was to try to improve our blocking systems. And I really

wanted to learn more about the guys. It was a good experience for me

to get to know them, as well as for them to get to know me.”