Anteaters compete for championship

The top-ranked UCI men’s volleyball team leaves today for Provo, Utah, where the Anteaters will compete in the four-team NCAA Championship for the third time in four seasons.

UCI, which won the program’s lone NCAA title in 2007 at Ohio State University, will face Ohio State in one semifinal at 8 p.m. Thursday at BYU’s Smith Fieldhouse.

The Anteaters, coached by John Speraw, are 25-5 entering Thursday’s match. Ohio State, the No. 4 seed, is 17-10. Penn State (27-3), which defeated UCI in the 2006 semifinals at Penn State, is the No. 2 seed. The Nittany Lions will face No. 3-seeded USC (23-11), which upset UCI in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament semifinals and went on to win the tournament to advance to the Final Four.

The NCAA title match is at 4 p.m. Saturday. UCI’s semifinal match will be televised live on ESPNU. The final is scheduled to be televised live on ESPN2.

— Barry Faulkner