UCI, Asuka dig four-game win

IRVINE — Brent Asuka has had an up-and-down sophomore season for the UC Irvine men’s volleyball team.

But things were mostly up after Saturday night’s 30-25, 30-24, 24-30, 30-18 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win over Cal State Northridge at the Bren Events Center.

The No. 2-ranked Anteaters’ spirits were up after winning their fifth match in a row. And the ball was up off the ground plenty of times after Asuka recorded one of his career-high 21 digs.

The 21 digs for the libero from Hawaii, last season’s National and MPSF Newcomer of the Year, is No. 2 in UCI’s all-time record book for most digs in a match. It’s also the most digs for the Anteaters (17-3, 11-3 in the MPSF) in the rally-scoring era.

“It was ridiculous,” said senior Jayson Jablonsky, who finished with a match-high 18 kills and two service aces. “You’d look to your left, and all of a sudden the ball’s up again. You’re like, ‘Oh, man.’ ”

UCI Coach John Speraw was also pleased with Asuka’s efforts, calling it his best match of the season. What also made Speraw happy against No. 10 Cal State Northridge (8-9, 6-6) was that the Anteaters, coming off an uplifting win at No. 3 UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday, still looked sharp three days later.

UCI went up, 8-1, in the first game behind serving from reigning National Player of the Week Aaron Harrell (five kills) and Matt Webber (16 kills), forcing Northridge to call a timeout. The Matadors never got closer than four points the rest of the way.

“I felt like we served real well in Games 1 and 2, and we haven’t been serving really well early in matches at all,” Speraw said. “I was excited about that.”

Northridge never led in Game 2, either. UCI opened up its biggest lead at 27-19 on Jon Steller’s service ace and hung on for the win on Webber’s kill.

Speraw was happy with the effort if not necessarily the emotion from his Anteaters, who had swept Northridge in the teams’ two previous meetings this season.

“I looked around and I was like, ‘Guys, are we having any fun here?’ ” Speraw said. “‘We’re doing well here, so let’s have some fun.’ ”

And it was the Anteaters who never led in Game 3, with Northridge’s Eric Vance finishing it off with one of his 10 kills.

But then, UCI came back for a .433 attack percentage in Game 4, its best of the match. Up 14-10, the Anteaters went on a 7-2 run capped by four straight serves from senior Brian Thornton (52 assists) to seize back control of the match.

“Northridge played phenomenal in game three,” Speraw said. “They served the heck out of the ball and blocked really well. Then we got back to business in Game 4, which was nice.”

Taylor Wilson had eight kills for the Anteaters while Cole Reinholm and David Smith each had seven, with Smith’s coming on a team-best .583 attack percentage. He also added a team-best five block assists.

“I think we’re getting better,” Asuka said. “I don’t think we’re playing our best ball yet, we’re just trying to get better every day and try to peak at the end of the season.”

The Anteaters play host to UC San Diego on Wednesday at Crawford Court.