COLLEGES:

While the notion of six degrees of separation can be theoretically applied to link any two people in the world, the volleyball community may need only half that to find some level of connection.

Seldom was this more evident than Friday night at the Walter Pyramid, where visiting UC Irvine defeated Long Beach State for a crucial Mountain Pacific Sports Federation road triumph.

Long Beach State junior standout Tommy Pestolesi is the older brother of Kari Pestolesi, who starred as a sophomore for the UCI women’s team in 2008. Further, the father of the two playing Pestolesis, Tom, is the coach at Irvine Valley Community College, where he tutored Bryan Simmons, now a UCI junior middle blocker, the last two seasons.

As if that weren’t enough, Long Beach assistants Andy Read and John Hawks both coached at UCI, Read as the head coach from 1992 to 1996 and Hawkins for four seasons as a member of Coach John Speraw’s staff from 2003 to 2006.

Just to add to the interconnected nature of the sport, Read coached 49ers Coach Ryan Knipe at Marina High in the late 1980s.

 The four-game Anteaters’ victory avenged a three-game sweep by Long Beach in a Jan. 9 meeting at the Santa Barbara tournament. Combined with Monday’s nonconference home win over Princeton, No. 5-ranked UCI is now 7-2 heading into Friday’s home clash with MPSF rival UCLA at 7 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.

While senior All-American opposite hitter Jon Steller led the ’Eaters with 19 kills Friday, and a handful of players contributed to an 18-10 UCI advantage in total blocks, Speraw said the play of senior setter Ryan Ammerman has been central to the team’s success, thus far.

“[Ammerman] is the key, in terms of our improvement this season,” Speraw said. “It’s his level of play and his being able to control those tough moments when things don’t go very well. Those moments are inevitable and I think he has dealt with them better, and is running a much better offense than he did last year.”

 UCI is also benefiting from the presence of volunteer assistant Ron Larsen, the former UC San Diego head coach who was the top assistant for the U.S. men’s team that won the gold medal in the Beijing Olympics last summer.

Speraw was also an assistant on that team and convinced Larsen to help the Anteaters out this season.

 Both Tommy Pestolesi and Kari Pestolesi are now wearing jersey No. 4, which has become somewhat of a family tradition.

Tom Pestolesi and his wife, Diane, both wore that number throughout their playing days, which included All-American honors at the University of Hawaii for both.

Kari wore the number for the first time collegiately last fall, while Tommy is also playing his first college season as No. 4. Both had to wait until players who wore the number previously at their respective schools graduated.

 Dan Speraw, John’s dad, celebrated his birthday Friday. Dan Speraw shares the date with UCI men’s basketball coach Pat Douglass, who turned 59 Friday.

 The UCLA men’s volleyball team (3-4) includes junior outside hitter Brett Perrine and freshman opposite Kyle Caldwell (both out of Newport Harbor High), as well as Corona del Mar High product Ted Slaughter, a sophomore middle blocker.

The Bruins’ roster still lists senior Newport Harbor product Jamie Diefenbach, though he gave up his final season of volleyball to be a walk-on member of the basketball team.

 The Orange Coast College football program said goodbye to offensive coordinator Matt Mitchell last week, Pirates Coach Mike Taylor said Monday.

Mitchell, who was with the program for six seasons, the last five running the offense, took a job as offensive coordinator at Servite High. Taylor said the move nearly doubled Mitchell’s salary.

Junior Tagaloa, an assistant the last eight seasons and a former star receiver at OCC and Cal, will shift to offensive coordinator, Taylor said. Tagaloa, long a favorite among the players, worked with the special teams and the tight ends last season. The Costa Mesa resident has also coached the receivers at OCC.

 The OCC baseball season opener today against visiting Mt. San Antonio will reunite Pirates Coach John Altobelli with former assistant Stacy Parker, who enters his seventh season as the Mounties head man.

Parker, a former UCI standout whose single-season stolen-base record was broken last spring by Ollie Linton, was an assistant to Altobelli at OCC for six seasons from 1992 through 1997.

 Big West Conference men’s basketball coaches, including Douglass, should have sent Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Coach Kevin Bromley a gift basket Monday, after Bromley’s Mustangs, who entered Wednesday having lost seven straight, swept their two-game road swing at Pacific and UC Davis, Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.

Adding to a wild Saturday, UC Riverside upset conference-leading Long Beach State, 64-55, at the Pyramid. The win ended a 21-game losing steak in conference road games for the Highlanders.

UCI, tied for fifth in the conference with a 3-3 Big West record, visits Riverside Thursday at 8 p.m.

UCI plays host to Long Beach State Saturday at 7 p.m.