‘Eaters swept by Waves

UC Irvine’s momentous season in men’s volleyball ended rather

abruptly as top-ranked Pepperdine swept the Anteaters, 30-26, 30-20,

30-27, in a semifinal of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation

Championship Tournament before 1,507 at Firestone Fieldhouse

Thursday.

The Waves (24-4) advance to the MPSF championship match Saturday,

while the Anteaters end their season 20-11, setting a new single-season record for victories.

UCI junior Jimmy Pelzel, a first-team All-MPSF selection, led all

players with 26 kills and Kyle Weichart added seven kills. The

Anteaters hit .198 as a team in the match, while the Waves had a .406

hitting percentage.

David Kniffin, the ‘Eaters’ senior setter, recorded 44 set assists

and libero Greg Ford added 14 digs. Sean Rooney led Pepperdine with

21 kills and John Mayer had 44 set assists and 11 digs.

UCI first-year coach John Speraw said Pepperdine’s strength this

season has been a solid blocking game, which helped the Waves press

on to victory. The Waves recorded 11 total team blocks to UCI’s four.

The Anteaters had earned a four-game victory over host Stanford

April 19, which put them into the MPSF final. The playoff victory was

the first in UCI’s history.

“That was special,” Speraw said. “They knew it was the first

playoff match victory in our history and that was very important to

them.”