‘Eaters sweep Trojans

IRVINE — Zeros aren’t total anomalies on volleyball stat sheets, but this one was.

USC lost, 30-28, 30-26, 30-22, to UC Irvine Friday night without recording a single block.

When he found out, Anteaters junior opposite hitter Jon Steller’s eyes bulged, his brows rose and his mouth dropped in disbelief.

“Really?” he asked, reaching for the evidence. “Ooooooh! I’ve never seen that in my entire life. That’s unbelievable.”

Irvine Coach John Speraw couldn’t remember the last time an opposing team didn’t have any blocks against the Anteaters.

“Maybe never,” he said.

No. 8 Irvine (8-6, 5-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) had a season-high .500 hitting average against the No. 11 Trojans (6-7, 5-5 in the MPSF), led by Steller (13 kills) and freshman Cory Yoder (14 kills). Junior Ryan Ammerman had 44 assists.

“I think that’s just due to how good our setter was,” Steller said. “His sets were so perfect that if we wanted to hit sharp angle, or high into the corner or right down the line, everything — we had full range because of his sets.”

Irvine had nine blocks as it rolled to its fifth win in six matches, picking up the pace after three straight January losses.

Adding four freshman to the starting lineup made things rocky, and it took some time for Yoder, Kevin Carroll, Kevin Wynne, and Jordan DuFault to find the right chemistry.

The brightest spot yet, Speraw said, has been UCI’s left-side blocking.

“We still have a lot of youth, and we still have a long way to go with how we play the game,” said Speraw. “Our passing, our offense, our ball control, our serving — I don’t think there’s any aspect of our game that’s quite at the level our team was last year.”

Steller had five service errors and two aces in his second start. Steller has been filling in for Taylor Wilson, who was out with a left ankle injury.

“I didn’t think he had his best night and he’s still at .524,” Speraw said. “He had some errors that were uncharacteristic of him, but he’s done a really nice job for us.”

But Friday’s win wasn’t just a sign that UCI may be closer to righting itself in time to face No. 1 Brigham Young.

For Yoder, who redshirted last year, Friday’s championship banner-hanging ceremony finally gave closure to last year’s historic season. The banner commemorating UCI’s 2007 NCAA tournament victory now hangs beside a 2005 sailing championship banner, and out of everyone’s minds.

“Last year, I really wanted to be on that squad,” said Yoder, whose father Bob played on USC’s 1977 national championship team, then coached one 11 years later. “I ended up redshirting, which was actually better for me, because now I get four years and we get to have our own legacy.”

Yoder’s .542 hitting percentage matched his Jan. 12 performance against Stanford, his best of the season in matches with more than 15 attempts.

Despite struggling with service errors — Irvine had 22 compared with USC’s 14 on the night — the Anteaters hung on for a close first-game win, and finally found a rhythm in game three when they took an early 5-1 lead.

To Steller, Friday’s win, together with Wednesday’s come-from-behind victory against Pepperdine, signified the team has found the mettle necessary for facing BYU.

“It was kind of a sloppy victory but we just came together, and Wednesday night, when we were down eight points in the fourth game, to rally back as a team and come from behind was just kind of unreal for volleyball,” Steller said. “I think we’re prepared.”

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.