“I met with [UCI men’s volleyball coach John Speraw, and [men’s basketball coach] Pat Douglass,” said UCI Coach George Kuntz, who was soliciting tips from those who have won national championships (Douglass’ at Division II Cal State Bakersfield) on how to prepare the first of his 14 UCI squads for the postseason. “I even called Sigi [Schmid, the former longtime UCLA head man who guided the Columbus Crew to the MLS Cup on Sunday] about how to approach an NCAA Tournament game and they all gave me great information. The thing they all said was don’t change a thing. Don’t treat it as a tournament game, treat it as any other game. Train like you would normally train and act like you would normally act. And that’s what the [players] did. They just came with a little more passion tonight, a little bit more conviction.”
There may have been those who still needed convincing that the Big West regular-season and tournament champions (15-1-6), ranked No. 7 nationally by the coaches, No. 1 in the West Region, and seeded No. 14, which came with a first-round bye, deserved their place among the collegiate elite.
But it’s becoming more difficult, if not impossible, to ferret out the doubters, none of whom were on the winning bench Friday.
UCI, on a seven-game winning streak and unbeaten in its last 11 contests, will get yet another chance to convert remaining fence-sitters when the ’Eaters fly cross-country Thursday to prepare to meet No. 3-seeded St. John’s in a third-round clash Saturday at 2 p.m. Pacific Time.
St. John’s improved to 17-2-3 with a 1-0 triumph Tuesday over Boston University.
