COLLEGES:UCI fans making progress

As the UC Irvine men’s volleyball team adds to its tradition of success with each successive postseason triumph, the Anteaters’ fans are also stepping up.

Standing up and cheering at UCI sporting events is often reserved for a few passionate students in their Completely Insane Anteaters gold T-shirts.

Volleyball, with its emotional ebb and flow, has been a notable exception, especially as Coach John Speraw’s squad has become one of the elite programs in the nation the last two seasons.

But as recently as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation quarterfinals against visiting Hawaii, April 21 at Crawford Court, it was my belief that UCI rooters needed things to go well for the Anteaters on the court, before they would part with their most demonstrative support.

It just wasn’t proper form for a UCI crowd to greet their team out of the locker room by standing, yelling, waving and basically going nuts. And while some programs are lifted by their fans doing just that, sometimes for simply walking to the floor out of a timeout huddle, UCI fans needed more affirmative action by their athletes before handing over their unabashed support.

But all that changed before the start of the fifth game of the MPSF title match Saturday at Pepperdine, when the UCI crowd, responsible for close to 25% of the 2,574 in attendance at Firestone Fieldhouse, went stark-raving bonkers for the Anteaters as they took the floor for the decisive game.

The Pepperdine faithful, who have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to creating a rocking “home-court” atmosphere for their Waves, were, I believe taken aback, as the UCI fans stood, some even bounding from their bleacher seats, to envelop Speraw’s squad in a blanket of good old-fashioned fervor.

The UCI supporters were clearly more vocal than the remaining 75% of the crowd at this critical time. After four rugged games, following an intense and emotional five-game come-from-behind victory 48 hours earlier against BYU, the UCI players had to be energized by this outpouring of spectator emotion.

It’s no coincidence that the ‘Eaters pushed through to upset the No. 1-ranked hosts and earn the program’s first MPSF tournament title.

Asking UCI supporters to create anything similar at the Final Four beginning Thursday at Ohio State would simply be unrealistic. But the UCI crowd’s performance Saturday in Malibu proves it can be an effective force behind its teams, even outside of Irvine city limits.

UCI senior setter Brian Thornton set the school career assist record in dramatic fashion Saturday, delivering a career-high 78 assists in the Anteaters’ 27-30, 24-30, 30-28, 16-14 victory at Pepperdine.

“I don’t even think an assist should even be a stat,” he said. “But really, all [the career record] means is that I’ve been around a long time.”

Not bad for a guy who didn’t warrant a single Division I scholarship offer out of San Clemente High. He came to UCI as a walk-on.

But after earning MPSF and National Player of the Year recognition as a junior, Jablonsky was chosen second-team All-MPSF.

True to form, however, he said any lack of individual accolades will not affect him in the least.

“That’s OK,” he said. “All I want is the thing I didn’t get last season [a national championship] and I still have a chance at that [this week].”

UCI men’s volleyball statistician Rob Chai was quick to recognize the opportunity for reventge the Anteaters received when they were seeded No. 2 and paired against No. 3-seeded Penn State in the NCAA semifinals Thursday at 4 p.m.

It was Penn State, which eliminated the top-seeded Anteaters in last year’s NCAA semifinals in five games.

“Rob came up to me and said ‘It’s not often you get a second chance in life,’ ” UCI senior opposite Matt Webber said.

Pelzel and 2006 team captain Paul Spittle, whose younger brothers Nick, a sophomore libero, and Anthony, a freshman setter, are on this year’s UCI men’s volleyball team, were among those rooting loudly for the Anteaters Saturday.

“That was awesome,” Paul Spittle said amid the Anteaters’ post-match celebration.

BARRY FAULKNER can be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.