Bruins outlast Anteaters

IRVINE — For UC Irvine men’s volleyball coach John Speraw, this wasn’t like the first couple of times he went up against his mentor, legendary UCLA Coach Al Scates.

He’s not fazed anymore. Actually it was his old coach looking more worried Friday night, the 15th match between the two.

Every time the Bruins were in trouble, there was Scates rising from his seat, moving up the sideline to get a closer look at the play around the net.

But after the Anteaters dropped a tough 30-25, 27-30, 28-30, 30-19, 10-15 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match in front of 2,888 fans at the Bren Events Center, Speraw sure felt like he did during his first couple of years at UCI.

“I don’t know what it is about these years when you have a new team and a new group,” Speraw said. “You try and put it together and we’ve had so many matches where if you look at the boxscore at the end, we outhit, we outblocked the other team and lose. That’s happened so much this year. It happened three years ago when we were putting that last group together.

“It’s happening again where you just don’t make the plays you need to in the end to win.”

Speraw has had to adjust in his sixth season at UCI (10-11, 6-8 in the MPSF). Now it’s back to his first years, when the Anteaters were nowhere close to competing with powerhouse UCLA, or claiming their first NCAA championship like they did last season.

Speraw is now 6-9 against Scates, an impressive record considering Scates entered his 46th season with a .835 winning percentage and has led UCLA to 19 NCAA titles.

But all Speraw is worried about is where UCI is headed. Right now the program is a sub-.500 program. And with Speraw saying that junior opposite Taylor Wilson is doubtful to return from a stress fracture in his left leg, things don’t look promising for the young Anteaters.

Eight matches remain for UCI before the ultra-competitive MPSF Tournament begins. There’s enough time to turn it around and gain some momentum.

The No.-6 ranked Anteaters were in the thick of it against No. 10 UCLA (13-9, 8-6). But there were major breakdowns against the Bruins again late, allowing UCLA to beat UCI for the second time this season.

After switching sides down, 8-7, during the decisive fifth game, UCI dazzled the crowd at times. Junior libero Brent Asuka chased down a ball headed out of sight, near the far end of the Anteaters’ bench, before putting it back into play.

But freshman setter Anthony Spittle couldn’t get the ball over the net. He gently tapped as if he were about to make another pass. UCLA went ahead, 10-7, and things began to unfold.

UCI junior opposite Jon Steller, who recorded a career-high 25 kills, delivered big shots throughout. He tried to offset UCLA’s big hitters, sophomore Garrett Muagututia and junior Sean O’Malley, who finished with 20 kills each.

But Steller hit one too hard as it went out of play. Scates couldn’t believe it as UCLA built a 13-9 lead, and the Bruins’ three Newport Harbor High products, junior middle blocker Jamie Diefenbach, sophomore outside hitter Brett Perrine and freshman middle blocker Weston Dunlap, were close to celebrating a win close to home.

“Steller was on fire,” Scates said. “My guys had seen him play before and they never seen him hit [as] well as he did.”

UCI sophomore Cole Reinholm’s hitting error ended it.

“We didn’t practice too well this week and we kind of played like we practiced,” Steller said. “After losing to [the Bruins] last time, we really wanted to come out and beat them.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].