UCLA
UC Irvine
No. 3 UCLA Blanks No. 10 UC Irvine, 3-0
January 23, 2004 | Men's Volleyball
Jan. 23, 2004
IRVINE, Calif. - The third-ranked UCLA men's volleyball team swept No. 10 UC Irvine, 3-0 (30-24, 30-23, 30-22) in front of 1,873 fans at the Bren Events Center Friday.
The crowd, which was the second largest in UCI history and is the seventh best in the nation this year, saw the Bruins improve to 6-1 overall and 2-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). UCI falls to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in league play.
After UCLA won the first two games, UCI rallied in game three after trailing 5-9 to close the score to 9-10 on a Matt Webber kill. The Bruins would then run off five straight points to go up 15-9 and never looked back, winning the game and the match.
J.T. Wenger and Paul Johnson led UCLA with 12 kills each. Johnson hit .786 (12-1-14) for the match. Setter Dennis Gonzales had a match-high 35 set assists and eight digs.
The Bruins dominated the net, out-blocking UCI 15-5. The Anteaters struggled offensively hitting just .175 to UCLA's .432.
Senior Jimmy Pelzel led all players with 15 kills and totaled seven digs. Freshman middle blocker David Smith added eight kills and three block assists. Freshman Brian Thornton set in games 2 and 3 and recorded a career-high 21 set assists.
