UCI earns first NCAA tournament bid

Being named the No. 1 seed on Sunday for this week’s NCAA Championship meant everything to the UC Irvine men’s volleyball team. But, Anateaters Coach John Speraw was quick to point out, it also means nothing.

UCI (27-4) was awarded the lone at-large berth in the four-team tournament that begins Thursday at Penn State University, where the Anteaters, ranked No. 1 the final seven weeks of the regular season, will battle the host Nittany Lions (20-8) in the second semifinal at 5 p.m.

UCLA (24-12), which won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament title on Saturday, will meet Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (23-6) in a 3 p.m. semifinal Thursday.

The title match, which will be televised live on ESPN2, is Saturday at 4 p.m.

It’s the first trip to the NCAA Championship for the Anteaters, who also earned the program’s first MPSF regular-season championship this season with virtually the same team that went 9-20 in 2005.

“This is a pretty special group of guys and their consistency at succeeding over the course of the year has been really remarkable,” Speraw said of his squad, which finished the regular season on a 21-match winning streak, then lost to Long Beach State in the MPSF tournament semifinals. “These guys are pioneers because they’ve done something that no one at this university has ever done ? They’re going to the final four.”

UCI coaches and players were joined by some athletic department staff members and alumni at the Bren Events Center Sunday to watch the live television broadcast of the championship pairings announcement.

“People were cheering,” Speraw said of the reaction to UCI receiving the at-large bid. “Everyone was very happy and, I think, slightly relieved.”

Speraw, who has been to eight NCAA Championship tournaments as a player and assistant coach at UCLA, said he will try to impart some of his final four experience to his players.

“I’ve won five of these things, but I’ve also lost three,” said Speraw, in his fourth season at UCI.

Speraw said the No. 1 seed means a matchup with the No. 4 seed, a Penn State team deemed to be the weakest in the field. But, as the host school, the crowd should provide a boost for the Nittany Lions.

UCI exposed some Penn State weakness, defeating the Nittany Lions, 30-21, 30-27, 30-25, in a nonconference match on March 7 at Crawford Court.

Penn State won the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. Tournament by sweeping three matches. It lost to Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, the champion of the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn., in its regular-season finale. The Nittany Lions have won seven of their last eight matches.

Speraw expects a supreme challenge.

“We’re playing a Penn State team on its home floor, that has five seniors and has been to the final four three times,” Speraw said. Any opponent the West Coast teams had was going to be tough. Those teams are good. Years ago, the West Coast teams could walk through them to the final.”

Speraw said having played Penn State does create some comfort zone, but the same scouting advantage is held by Coach Mark Pavlik, whom Speraw considers a good friend.

“I’d be a little more nervous had I not played them before,” Speraw said. “So, in that sense, [the rematch] is good.”

Speraw said it is also good to have something positive to point toward, following a three-game loss to Long Beach State on Thursday at the Bren Center.

“We took a little break and talked about what happened,” Speraw said of his team’s only loss since Jan. 27 at Hawaii. Speraw said that discussion centered on postseason experience and how to respond and interact under those circumstances.

“I think we learned something from it,” Speraw said.

Penn State is led by seniors Nate Meerstein, a 6-foot-9 middle blocker, Matt Proper, a 6-6 outside hitter, and Dan O’Dell, a 6-7 setter. All three were first-team All-IEVA honorees, as was 6-9 freshman middle Max Holt.

UCI is keyed by MPSF Player of the Year Jayson Jablonsky, a 6-5 junior outside hitter, and first-team all-conference performer Matt Webber, a 6-7 junior opposite.

But the ‘Eaters’ biggest strength has been balance. Outside hitter Paul Spittle, a senior captain, junior setter Brian Thornton, junior middle David Smith, sophomore middle Aaron Harrell and freshman libero Brent Asuka, the MPSF Newcomer of the Year, have all contributed heavily to a school-record victory total.