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Anteaters complete turnaround with national title
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It’s hard to convince a team it can compete at the highest level of a sport when it is coming off a 9-20 season just two years before.
UC Irvine men’s volleyball coach John Speraw had the difficult task of making his student-athletes believe they could be a national power. Speraw’s words proved prophetic for the Anteaters as they completed the best season in program history by defeating Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne, 30-20, 24-30, 30-23, 30-28, to win the NCAA men’s volleyball title in Columbus, Ohio, May 5.
It is the first national title for the institution in a sport contested outside of a pool. UC Irvine owns three NCAA championships in men’s water polo — the last of which came in 1989.
The senior class of Matt Webber, Jayson Jablonsky, David Smith and Brian Thornton played a key role in turning the Anteaters’ fortunes around. They were all recruited after Speraw’s first season as coach at UC Irvine.
“People have asked me about how the five-year plan was done,” Speraw said of his 29-5 club. “It was done when we recruited these four (seniors). I learned more from them than they’ve learned from me. It’s been my great pleasure to work with them.”
The foundation for this championship began to take shape in 2006 when the Anteaters improved to 27-6. The momentum kept going this spring.
In the championship match, UC Irvine sent a strong message to the Mastodons. Webber and Jablonsky led a relentless attack by registering six kills apiece in Game 1. The Anteaters hit .724 and only had one hitting error in the first game of the final.
Webber, the tournament’s most outstanding player, finished the match with 22 kills. But he wasn’t as thrilled with the individual honor as he was with helping his team reach the pinnacle in collegiate volleyball.
“It doesn’t mean much (being the MOP),” Webber said. “We did it. We played as a team. For one guy to stand out doesn’t make much sense. We’re a bunch of nobodies if we don’t play together.”
Jablonsky and Smith added to the offense with 18 and 13 kills, respectively. Thornton contributed 59 assists and six digs.
Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne, 23-8, beat top-seeded Pepperdine in four games to reach the final for the first time in program history. The Mastodons fell short in their bid for a national title, but not without going down battling.
The Mastodons won Game 2, 30-24, and the fourth game was tied 26-26 before UC Irvine was able to close out the match.
“Their offense was just a little more steady than ours,” said Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne coach Arnie Ball, whose team received most of the support from the 4,756 fans in attendance. “They made some pretty good swings. We touched and dug a lot of balls, but we didn’t make very good swings when we had a chance.”
C.J. Macias led Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne with 21 kills and eight digs.
Speraw, who played on two national championship teams at UCLA in the 1990s, used several motivational tools to inspire his team. UC Irvine opened the season with exhibition matches at Ohio State’s St. John Arena, the same venue that hosted the national semifinals and final.
Speraw won’t have to take his players that far from home to motivate them next year, since the 2008 finals will be at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center.
Semifinals
IPFW def. Pepperdine, 27-30, 30-27, 30-27, 30-25; UC Irvine def. Penn St., 30-25, 30-22, 26-30, 30-23.
Championship match
IPFW 20 30 23 28
UC Irvine 30 24 30 30
IPFW K E TA Pct. A SA D TB
C. J. Macias 21 9 42 .286 0 1 8 3
Brooke Ullrich 10 6 26 .154 1 0 4 2
Colin Lundeen 2 1 5 .200 53 1 6 7
Vitor Oliveira 8 5 21 .143 0 0 1 0
Josh Stewart 12 0 17 .706 0 0 0 10
Jason Yhost 9 6 24 .125 2 0 8 2
Matt Plinske 0 0 0 .000 2 0 3 0
Josh Collins 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Dan McNerney 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 0
Jerrod Quillen 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Totals 62 27 135 .259 58 2 31 14.5
UC Irvine K E TA Pct. A SA D TB
Taylor Wilson 6 5 19 .053 1 0 8 2
Brian Thornton 0 0 1 .000 59 0 6 2
Jayson Jablonsky 18 7 39 .282 1 0 5 2
Matt Webber 22 6 35 .457 0 0 4 1
David Smith 13 2 21 .524 2 1 4 4
Aaron Harrell 10 1 15 .600 3 0 3 2
Jon Steller 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Brent Asuka 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 0
Brett Simpson 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Totals 69 21 130 .369 66 1 35 6.5
UC Irvine men’s volleyball coach John Speraw had the difficult task of making his student-athletes believe they could be a national power. Speraw’s words proved prophetic for the Anteaters as they completed the best season in program history by defeating Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne, 30-20, 24-30, 30-23, 30-28, to win the NCAA men’s volleyball title in Columbus, Ohio, May 5.
It is the first national title for the institution in a sport contested outside of a pool. UC Irvine owns three NCAA championships in men’s water polo — the last of which came in 1989.
The senior class of Matt Webber, Jayson Jablonsky, David Smith and Brian Thornton played a key role in turning the Anteaters’ fortunes around. They were all recruited after Speraw’s first season as coach at UC Irvine.
“People have asked me about how the five-year plan was done,” Speraw said of his 29-5 club. “It was done when we recruited these four (seniors). I learned more from them than they’ve learned from me. It’s been my great pleasure to work with them.”
The foundation for this championship began to take shape in 2006 when the Anteaters improved to 27-6. The momentum kept going this spring.
In the championship match, UC Irvine sent a strong message to the Mastodons. Webber and Jablonsky led a relentless attack by registering six kills apiece in Game 1. The Anteaters hit .724 and only had one hitting error in the first game of the final.
Webber, the tournament’s most outstanding player, finished the match with 22 kills. But he wasn’t as thrilled with the individual honor as he was with helping his team reach the pinnacle in collegiate volleyball.
“It doesn’t mean much (being the MOP),” Webber said. “We did it. We played as a team. For one guy to stand out doesn’t make much sense. We’re a bunch of nobodies if we don’t play together.”
Jablonsky and Smith added to the offense with 18 and 13 kills, respectively. Thornton contributed 59 assists and six digs.
Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne, 23-8, beat top-seeded Pepperdine in four games to reach the final for the first time in program history. The Mastodons fell short in their bid for a national title, but not without going down battling.
The Mastodons won Game 2, 30-24, and the fourth game was tied 26-26 before UC Irvine was able to close out the match.
“Their offense was just a little more steady than ours,” said Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne coach Arnie Ball, whose team received most of the support from the 4,756 fans in attendance. “They made some pretty good swings. We touched and dug a lot of balls, but we didn’t make very good swings when we had a chance.”
C.J. Macias led Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne with 21 kills and eight digs.
Speraw, who played on two national championship teams at UCLA in the 1990s, used several motivational tools to inspire his team. UC Irvine opened the season with exhibition matches at Ohio State’s St. John Arena, the same venue that hosted the national semifinals and final.
Speraw won’t have to take his players that far from home to motivate them next year, since the 2008 finals will be at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center.
Semifinals
IPFW def. Pepperdine, 27-30, 30-27, 30-27, 30-25; UC Irvine def. Penn St., 30-25, 30-22, 26-30, 30-23.
Championship match
IPFW 20 30 23 28
UC Irvine 30 24 30 30
IPFW K E TA Pct. A SA D TB
C. J. Macias 21 9 42 .286 0 1 8 3
Brooke Ullrich 10 6 26 .154 1 0 4 2
Colin Lundeen 2 1 5 .200 53 1 6 7
Vitor Oliveira 8 5 21 .143 0 0 1 0
Josh Stewart 12 0 17 .706 0 0 0 10
Jason Yhost 9 6 24 .125 2 0 8 2
Matt Plinske 0 0 0 .000 2 0 3 0
Josh Collins 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Dan McNerney 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 0
Jerrod Quillen 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Totals 62 27 135 .259 58 2 31 14.5
UC Irvine K E TA Pct. A SA D TB
Taylor Wilson 6 5 19 .053 1 0 8 2
Brian Thornton 0 0 1 .000 59 0 6 2
Jayson Jablonsky 18 7 39 .282 1 0 5 2
Matt Webber 22 6 35 .457 0 0 4 1
David Smith 13 2 21 .524 2 1 4 4
Aaron Harrell 10 1 15 .600 3 0 3 2
Jon Steller 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Brent Asuka 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 0
Brett Simpson 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Totals 69 21 130 .369 66 1 35 6.5
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