System in place for UCI

IRVINE — The system is clearly in place for the UC Irvine women’s volleyball team, which completed a winning weekend to solidify its place atop the Big West Conference standings by sweeping visiting UC Riverside Saturday.

But it’s what is happening when the system sporadically breaks down that has allowed the Anteaters, under first-year coach Paula Weishoff, to climb into position to claim the program’s first conference crown.

“I think in system [when an accurate pass is close enough to the setter to allow for a complete array of offensive options], we’re really, really good,” Weishoff said after a somewhat systematic 25-13, 27-25, 25-20 triumph upped the No. 21-ranked Anteaters’ record to 16-3, 6-1 in conference. “But we’ve got to keep working on [playing] out of system, to convert the junk balls into scores. I think our defense is getting a lot better.”

Senior setter Taryn Robertson, who had 38 assists, also said that having the ability to succeed when a bad pass or deflected ball forces a scramble situation, is the biggest difference from last year, when UCI finished second in the Big West.

“We’re working a lot on playing out of system,” Robertson said. “We’re more organized on those plays this year.”

And while there was clearly no initial letdown after Friday’s five-game home win over visiting Long Beach State in a battle for first place, the lowly Highlanders (2-16, 0-7) responded in the second set to provide a little adversity for the hosts, who are now 7-0 at home this season.

After cruising in Game 1, UCI faced deficits of 4-0, 7-2, and 12-7 early in the second set. The ’Eaters pulled even at 23-23, but were behind, 24-23 and 25-24, before a missed serve by the Highlanders, a dump by Robertson, and a Riverside hitting error helped UCI prevail.

Irvine faltered slightly in the third game, as the Highlanders pared a 10-4 deficit to 12-11, before UCI pulled away to close out the match.

The five-match conference winning streak is a record for UCI, which gets a chance to avenge its only conference setback this season, a five-game loss at UC Santa Barbara in which they won the first two sets, when the Gauchos visit Crawford Court Friday at 7 p.m.

The Anteaters, aiming for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2004, will also have to adjust to being the conference front-runner.

“At the beginning, we were underdogs,” Weishoff said. “We beat [then-No. 6-ranked] Cal, and we were nationally ranked, then we kind of went down [three losses in an eight-match stretch concluding with the defeat at UCSB]. I think we did let the pressure get to us. It was like ‘Oh my gosh, we can’t lose.” Well, we can lose, but we just need to have a different mentality. We need to play to win, not to lose.”

Robertson said being the hunted, instead of the hunters, is a nice problem to have.

“It is fun,” Robertson said. “Everyone is bringing their best match to us. I thought Riverside played really well. We know we have the targets on our back, so we have to come out strong every single match. There’s no one we can look past in this conference.

Junior outside hitter Kari Pestolesi had a match-high 13 kills, hit a season-best .440, and a match-high two aces.

Junior middle blocker Riley Cropper chipped in nine kills and hit .533, while senior Alex Filkins came off the bench to produce four kills and a .571 hitting percentage.

UCI hit .324 as a team.

Freshman libero Kristin Winkler had 13 digs.

“[Cropper] had a great match tonight,” Weishoff said.

“We need to get her the ball more. Sometimes we have a tendency to go outside, outside, outside.”

Junior outside hitter Juliane Piggott had six kills for UCI.