‘Eaters outlast Cougars

MALIBU — It would figure a team used to operating at an elevation of 4,500 feet wouldn’t have much experience with ground zero. But that’s exactly where No. 2-ranked BYU found itself after the first game of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball tournament semifinal against UC Irvine Thursday at Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse.

And though the Cougars found a way to get off the floor and win Games 2 and 3, the No. 3-ranked Anteaters showed some resiliency of their own to claim a 30-19, 28-30, 27-30, 30-27, 15-10 triumph.

The win not only allowed UCI (26-5) to advance to Saturday’s MPSF championship match at 7 p.m. at top-ranked Pepperdine (26-1), it also will likely enable the Anteaters to return to the four-team NCAA Championship, May 3-5 at Ohio State.

The tournament champion earns an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship and the lone at-large entrant figures also to come out of the MPSF.

With Thursday’s win, UCI won the season series with BYU (23-6), two games to one. The two teams split their conference matches, Feb. 2 and Feb. 3 in Provo. BYU swept the opener, but UCI won in five in the second MPSF meeting.

The Anteaters had to overcome themselves as much as the Cougars. UCI committed 32 service errors, a season worst. But they managed prevail on the strength of 24 kills from senior Jayson Jablonsky, 21 from senior Matt Webber, a .342 team hitting percentage, compared to a .189 clip for the Cougars, who are supposedly more physical at the net.

UCI also received a huge spark off the bench from freshman outside hitter Cole Reinholm, who pounded eight kills and served five straight points in Game 5, capped by an ace, to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 5-1 lead.

UCI, which is 4-3 in five-game matches this season, never trailed again.

Reinholm followed with UCI’s 31st service error of the night and a Jablonsky kill attempt sailed long to draw BYU within 5-3.

But Webber knocked a kill off a BYU blocker then authored a solo stuff block to make it 7-3.

Junior Aaron Harrell’s ace sent the Anteaters into the side change with an 8-3 lead.

BYU closed to within 8-4, but a David Smith kill and another by Jablonsky, on an overpass, created a 10-4 cushion and forced another BYU timeout.

A kill by Ivan Perez followed the timeout and after the two teams exchanged service errors, Perez blasted a jump serve ace that pulled the Cougars within 11-7.

Perez hammered another ace out of a UCI timeout, but a Smith stuff block gave UCI a 12-8 advantage. BYU trimmed the deficit to 12-10, before a Jablonsky kill from the back row gave UCI a 13-10 edge.

A hitting error by 6-foot-8 sophomore Yosleyder Cala created match point and Webber finished it with a stuff block on Cala.

“I guess it’s our destiny to go five games,” UCI Coach John Speraw said. “Last year, we lost our five-gamers in the playoffs, but now we’ve won two matches in this postseason.”

It’s the first time in program history UCI has won two postseason matches in the same season. They were 1-6 in the postseason before an MPSF quarterfinal win over Hawaii at Crawford Court Thursday.

The Anteaters came out banging and blocking and bullying the Cougars in the first game, overcoming eight service errors by bringing more aggression at the net.

UCI hit .536 and BYU hit .000.

Webber had six kills in nine attempts to hit .556 in the opening game and Jablonsky had four kills in seven attempts (.571)

BYU hit zero and showed about that much fire in the first game.

“I thought we were the better team, even in Game 2 and Game 3,” Speraw said. “I thought if we got Cala and [freshman opposite] Robby Stowell in trouble, we’d be in business.”

Stowell and Cala, who came in as the top two kill producers for the Cougars, finished with 14 and 12, respectively. Cala hit .068 and Stowell finished with a hitting percentage of .103.

Senior setter Brian Thornton had a match-high 63 assists for the winners, who also outblocked the Cougars, 12-10, as a team.

Smith finished with nine kills and a team-high six block assists.