Anteaters prepare with Alberta

IRVINE — The University of Alberta defeated UC Irvine, 30-22, 23-30, 30-28, 30-27, in an exhibition men’s volleyball match at Crawford Court Wednesday afternoon.

UCI was led by freshman Carson Clark with 18 kills followed by sophomore Jordan DuFault with 15 kills and eight digs. Middle blocker Kevin Wynne added nine kills with a .471 hitting percentage (and four total blocks.

Freshman Austin D’Amore rejected a team-high seven blocks assists, while senior Ryan Ammerman had 43 set assists and six digs. Libero Brent Asuka recorded 10 digs.

Alberta had five players record double-digit kills with Joel Schmuland putting away a match-high 20. Jarmoc Thomas had 16 kills, two aces, six digs and five blocks, while Spencer Leiske, Justin Merta and Tim Gourlay each added 10 kills in the win. Leiske also recorded three aces and seven block assists.

UCI out-blocked Alberta 12.5-10, but the Golden Bears won the battle of the service line with seven aces to UCI’s three.

Alberta used a 4-0 run to take the 16-10 advantage and never looked back on its way to a 30-22 victory in the first game.

UCI jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second game and continued to lead 24-17. Alberta scored four unanswered to close within 24-21 until a Golden Bear service error stopped the streak. Kevin Wynne hit high off the block in the middle to put the Anteaters up 26-21 as UCI would take the set, 30-23.

UCI trailed 16-15 until Wynne took over, recording two kills and a solo block to give UCI the 17-16 lead. With the score tied at 20-20, Alberta took advantage of three Anteater attack miscues to go up 23-20. UCI would rally down 26-23, using a Carson Clark kill, two Alberta hitting errors and a block by Wynne and Cory Yoder to take the 27-26 lead. The teams would continue to trade points until, the Golden Bears would score the last two points on a UCI service error and a kill by Joel Schmuland.

UCI opens the regular season at Cal Baptist Wednesday at 7 p.m.

— From staff reports