Wilson, who was benched for ineffective play in the Anteaters' MPSF semifinal win over BYU April 26 at Pepperdine, bounced back to record a career-high 21 kills in a thrilling 27-30, 24-30, 30-28, 30-28, 16-14 triumph over the host Waves.
The victory enabled UCI to earn the automatic MPSF bid into the Final Four.
Last season, UCI, which won its first MPSF regular-season crown, was beaten by Long Beach State in the MPSF tournament semifinals and had to settle for an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship.
UCI, then the No. 1 seed at Penn State, fell to the host Nittany Lions in a five-game NCAA semifinal to finish 27-5.
This season, Wilson — as one who can truly appreciate second chances — is among the Anteaters looking forward to an opportunity to exact revenge against Penn State today in Columbus.
UCI defeated Penn State, 30-26, 27-30, 30-21, 30-25, in a nonconference home match March 14.
Wilson has learned to look forward and not dwell on the past, particularly during a midseason stretch in which freshman Cole Reinholm had replaced him in the starting lineup.
"He wasn't starting in the middle of the season," Speraw said of Wilson, who has played in 74 of the team's 119 games this season (62.2%). "But Cole started to struggle a little, offensively, so we went back to Taylor and Taylor has had some pretty good matches. Taylor is a bigger blocker, his serving has been consistent and he can hit the bic [a back-row spike from the center of the court that allows the hitter a better chance to avoid opposing blockers] really well. He gives us a little bit of a different look and that look has worked real well for us."
UCI senior setter Brian Thornton agreed.
