UCI still can’t take fifth

IRVINE — As he left the court Saturday after a dramatic five-game loss to UCLA, UC Irvine men’s volleyball star Carson Clark pulled at his jersey, stretching the fabric as if tugging at an imaginary anchor that had pulled the Anteaters under yet again.

The visiting Bruins’ 26-30, 30-18, 35-33, 20-30, 17-15 triumph marked the seventh loss in seven five-game matches for the 2009 national champions, who are running out of time to salvage a season that may ultimately leave them scratching their heads.

“Obviously it’s frustrating, because we’re 0-7 in five-gamers this year,” UCI Coach John Speraw said. “And in every single one of them, except one, I think we’ve been up, or they have been deuce games. It’s just incredible. From purely the percentages, it’s just incredible.”

The percentages were not with the No. 11-ranked ’Eaters when it counted most at the Bren Events Center. But Speraw did not resort to mathematics to administer blame.

“Our service game is so not where it needs to be,” said Speraw, who saw Clark fire a jump serve into the net on the third of four set points in Game 3 and also witnessed Kevin Carroll put one into the twine on UCI’s only set point of Game 5.

UCI had 20 missed serves, seven fewer than UCLA. But, fearing misfires, UCI players repeatedly resorted to safer, softer serves that allowed the No. 7-ranked Bruins the opportunity to control the ball and generate greater offensive efficiency.

Indicative of that, UCLA produced 33 combined kills from its middle blockers, including a match-high 23 from Thomas Ambert, who hit .500 by feasting on a steady stream of quick sets.

“It’s just that guys aren’t serving the ball the way they need to be serving the ball,” Speraw said. It’s not from lack of training and it’s not from lack of discussing it. It’s not from lack of trying not to discuss it. I mean guys have to go back there and hit their serves.”

UCLA (14-9, 9-7 in the MPSF), which lost in four games at home to UCI on March 5, helped its pursuit of one of the eight berths in the MPSF postseason tournament. The tournament winner is granted an automatic spot in the Final Four.

UCI (11-12, 6-10), which entered in 10th place in the 12-team conference, slipped further off the pace with six MPSF matches remaining.

“There’s still time to get in the tournament, but not much left of it,” said Speraw, who acknowledged that the third game would haunt him more than the fifth game against the Bruins.

In both games, UCLA made critical mistakes that gave UCI points down the stretch.

The Bruins missed back-to-back serves to give UCI leads of 12-10 and 13-11 in Game 5.

The visitors pulled even at 13, but Jordan DuFault pounded a back-row kill to put UCI on the verge of victory.

But after a timeout, Carroll, who provided a spark off the bench by producing 11 kills and six digs and hitting .333, made his second service error of the match to allow UCLA to pull even.

Down, 15-14, UCI knotted it with a combined stuff block from DuFault and Kevin Wynne (who had one solo block and six block assists).

But after UCLA sided out on a Wynne float serve, Garrett Muagututia ended the match on a tip kill.

Clark paced UCI with 17 kills and DuFault added 16, though they hit .226 and .263, respectively. Clark had a team-high 11 digs, but also led the team with six service errors.

Middle blocker Austin D’Amore has a solo block and seven block assists, but missed four serves.

D’Amore and Clark each had one ace.

Muagututia and setter Kevin Ker (67 assists) had four aces apiece for the Bruins, who produced nine aces, more than double the Anteaters’ four.

Further, strong UCLA serving forced UCI out of its system with consistency.

The Anteaters, searching for better service receivers, used three liberos and four outside hitters.

Speraw said the lack of success in Game 5 is anything but mental.

“I think, truthfully, at this point, we’re over it,” Speraw said. “We’re just not a good enough volleyball team to win these games. That’s what it comes down to. We don’t make the plays we need to make from the service line or from the setting, or the hitting choices.”