Carroll crushes ‘Eaters

MALIBU — Coach John Speraw knew his No. 2-ranked UC Irvine men’s volleyball team would be under pressure on the road against No. 3-ranked Pepperdine Friday night.

As it turned out, however, the Anteaters wound up Down Under. Pepperdine senior opposite John Carroll, a 6-foot-8 two-time first-team All-American from Australia, produced a season-high 37 kills. That helped the Waves prevail, 27-30, 30-27, 39-37, 30-26, in a showdown for first place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

Carroll’s dominant display, which included a .462 hitting percentage and 53.6% of his team’s kill production, helped stymie a UCI blocking brigade that came in leading the conference in blocking.

Carroll’s performance also helped overcome a strong UCI comeback to win the opening set, and allowed the Waves (9-1, 8-1 in conference) to stave off eight set points to win the third set, before going on to close out the victory.

“Our blocking numbers weren’t very good, because one guy had 65 attempts that we did nothing with,” said Speraw, who saw Pepperdine amass a 21-7.5 advantage in total team blocks.

“We might have stuffed [Carroll] once early in the match. He had seven errors, but six of them were [hitting the ball] out. So he took 65 swings and we got one stuff out of it. That’s going to make your night tough.”

Carroll, who starred for the Australian national team in the World Cup tournament leading up to the Beijing Olympics, had owned the nation’s single-match high for kills this season at 31, before Friday.

“[Carroll] was unbelievable tonight,” Speraw said. “He’s clearly the best player in America. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. We didn’t do enough to try slow him down. We didn’t make any tactical adjustments and yeah, our blocking numbers weren’t very good.

“[Carroll] has all the shots. He’s got all the range. He’s a huge kid, and he can jump OK. So, there were several times when he just reached up and slapped it right over the top and obviously that’s very difficult to defend. We knew he was good. I watched him light up Brazil last summer in the World Cup [where Speraw was an assistant coach for the eventual gold medal-winning Americans], so I know what he can do. And he was on his game tonight.”

Speraw said the Waves’ overall size also contributed to a combined .217 hitting percentage for the Anteaters (12-3, 8-2), who saw an eight-match winning streak snapped and fell from atop the MPSF standings.

The loss most likely also cost UCI a chance at the top national ranking, as No. 1-ranked Penn State suffered its first loss of the season Friday at Loyola of Chicago.

“You have to learn how to play a team like Pepperdine, because [the Waves are] so big, it’s tough to simulate in your gym,” Speraw said.

UCI trailed, 13-6, in the opening set, but went on a 14-2 run to turn the tables and eventually emerge with an early advantage.

The ’Eaters held an 18-17 lead in Game 2, and led most of Game 3. But they just could not push through to claim what would have been a 2-1 set advantage.

“I thought the key to the match is when we fought off a bunch of set points in Game 3,” Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy said. “ I think, looking back, whoever wins that, probably wins the match. Irvine is a real good team and I think we were pretty lucky to win Game 3.”

UCI senior All-American opposite Jon Steller had a career-high 32 kills, but four outside hitters combined to produce just 19 for the visitors.

“We didn’t get any production from our outside hitters tonight at all,” Speraw said. “And I went through all four of them [replacing starters Jordan DuFault and Taylor Wilson with Cory Yoder and Cole Reinholm].

“Cole came in and did OK at the end [three kills in five attempts]. I probably should have gone with him a little earlier.”

UCI made nine serving errors in Game 2 to help Pepperdine even the match, and the ’Eaters finished with 24 missed serves, seven more than Pepperdine. But UCI did have all seven aces in the match.

“That was a good volleyball match,” Speraw said. “I told our guys that we want to be put under pressure situations, and we were tonight. I think it’s good for us in the long run. We’ve got to keep ourselves focused on, first of all, how well we’ve done so far, and that we’re in these matches against the top teams. We’ve just got to keep getting better and get the wins at the end.”

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