UCLA
UC Irvine
Anteaters Down Bruins in Four
March 05, 2010 | Men's Volleyball
March 5, 2010
Twelfth-ranked UC Irvine upset No. 5 UCLA in four games Friday night in an MPSF match at Pauley Pavilion.
The Anteaters won 32-34, 30-23, 30-28, 30-28 in two hours and 20 minutes in front of 1,406 fans. The loss dropped UCLA to 10-9 overall and 8-7 in league play. The Anteaters improved to 10-10, 6-9.
After rallying late to win Game 1, the Bruins committed too many costly mistakes in the next three games to win the match. In the first set, UCI rallied from a 27-29 deficit and scored three straight points to force game point before the Bruins' Jack Polales tied it up at 30-30. Down 31-32, the Bruins received serve and a point on a service error by UCI's Jordan DuFault. The visitors' Carson Clark and Cory Yoder committed hitting errors to give the Bruins the game.
In Game 2, the Anteaters broke a 19-19 tie by scoring 10 of the next 13 points on a variety of UCLA errors: three by sophomore Jack Polales, a block on UCLA's Garrett Muagututia, a bad set by setter Kyle Caldwell and a service error by Dylan Bowermaster to give UCI the game.
In Game 3 at 28-28, a kill by the Anteaters' Kevin Carroll gave the visitors a one-point lead and a block by Kevin and Ian Wynne gave them a 2-1 lead in games. The Bruins committed seven service errors and a blocking error in this game, but hit .314, their best percentage of the evening.
The Bruins were ahead 24-19 in Game 4 before the Anteaters rallied again. The visitors scored three points on a pair of kills by Cole Reinholm and one by DuFault, forcing the Bruins to call a timeout. Polales' attack error made it a one-point game before Muagututia's kill gave UCLA a precarious two-point advantage. After Caldwell committed a service error, reducing the Bruins' lead to 26-25, the `Eaters scored four of the next five points on an ace by Reinholm, a kill by Cory Yoder and a pair of unforced UCLA errors. At 29-28, DuFault buried the winner and the match.
Polales led UCLA with 21 kills, 10 digs and 22.5 points, followed by Muagututia's 16 kills and 17.5 points. Caldwell added eight kills (.389), an ace and five block assists for 11.5 points. He also recorded 52 set assists, a career-high. Weston Dunlap recorded seven kills (.400) and Jeremy Casebeer added 11 kills and 12 digs. Libero Thomas Hastings dug 14 balls.
Dufault led UCI with 20 kills (.457) and 23.0 points, followed by 19 off the bench from Cole Reinholm, who hit .405.
The Bruins next home match is Wed., Mar. 10 against Ball State at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.
