‘Eaters close shop

Chris Yemma

When asked to describe the entire season in one word, UC Irvine men’s

volleyball coach John Speraw chose his words carefully Saturday night

after a season-ending loss to visiting Long Beach State.

“Well, it’s disappointing,” he said after the Anteaters suffered a

30-26, 30-23, 29-31, 30-25 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation loss to

the 49ers (20-9, 14-8 in the MPSF) to finish the season 9-20. “I

think we got better in certain areas, but we had higher expectations

for ourselves.”

The Anteaters (7-15 in the MPSF) failed to qualify for the MPSF

tournament for the first time under Speraw’s direction, with the

three-year coach leading the team to a semifinal appearance his first

year in 2003 and a first-round showing last season.

UCI, possessing an abundance of youth with not one senior on the

team, finished 10th in the conference out of 12 teams.

“I think we’re optimistic about our future, but we wanted to

accomplish some things this year and we didn’t get it done,” Speraw

said. “When you don’t accomplish your goals, it’s frustrating.”

The Anteaters were patchy throughout the first half of the season,

winning and losing fairly equally, but a string of nine consecutive

losses from Feb. 19 to April 1 caused a major dent in the standings.

Sophomore Jayson Jablonsky led the offensive push throughout the

year, averaging about four kills per game with a career-high 25 in a

match against Northridge last Saturday. Jablonsky, along with

sophomore Matt Webber, led the ‘Eaters in their season finale against

Long Beach.

Jablonsky posted 20 kills, good for 20.5 points, while Webber

notched 21 kills accounting for 24 points.

“Statistically [Jablonsky] certainly led the team,” Speraw said.

“I think everybody led in different ways, and certainly his play was

something that was a bright spot for us for sure. He has great

potential for the future. Everybody does certain things for us and we

just have to get better at them.”

Perhaps another bright spot that was salvaged Saturday night was a

third-game rally to prevent a sweep by the visitors, currently fifth

in the conference and ranked fourth nationally.

After falling in a 2-0 deficit in games, UCI, ranked 12th

nationally, came out firing in Game 3 in the best-of-five series and

only trailed after the 49ers scored the first point. Jablonsky fired

home nine kills and Webber slammed three as the Anteaters won in

extra time, 31-29.

But the 49ers took the fourth game, 30-25, and ended UCI’s chance

of a feel-good season-ending match.

David Smith and Steffin Rangel chipped in four kills apiece for

UCI, while Long Beach had three players with double digits in the

kill category -- Robert Tarr (19), Yassir Sliti (16) and Duncan

Budinger (10). Tyler Hildebrand added three kills and two aces for

the visitors.

“I knew that this year was going to have its challenges as young

as we were,” Speraw said. “But I really felt that despite our youth

we could accomplish some things and certainly I felt we could make

the playoffs and make a run, but that didn’t happen this year. We’ll

just look to do it next year.”

Youth this year for UCI means experience next year and after,

though, as the Anteaters are losing just one player -- junior Dillon

Fitch who is graduating early.

Standouts Jablonsky, Webber, Smith, Rangel, Paul Spittle and Aaron

Harrell all return for Speraw’s fourth season.

“We’re returning everybody,” Speraw said. “Really, we return 90%

of the lineup the next two years, so I think we’re going to be in a

good position.”

UCI closed out this season with a win at UC San Diego Wednesday, a

loss against visiting Northridge last Saturday and back-to-back wins

April 2 and 7 against Pacific and UC Santa Barbara, respectively.

A highlight this year included a season sweep over fifth-ranked

Santa Barbara, with the first win against the Gauchos Jan. 7. In the

more recent match against the Gauchos, UCI lost the first game but

rallied to win the next three. Webber had career-high in kills

against UCSB.