Dejno, who entered the contest midway through the first game, had four kills and three ace serves in a match-turning Game 2.
Dejno pounded consecutive kills to pull No. 6-ranked UCI (14-11, 10-8 in conference) within 22-20. His vapor-trail kill later pulled UCI even, 23-23, and with the match tied, 24-24, he closed it out with back-to-back jump-serve aces to turn the tide.
"Considering the way UCLA had played so well against us for four and a half games, you begin to wonder if this matchup just isn't really meant for us, you know?" Speraw said. "We just had some great contributions off the bench, with the obvious one being Jeremy Dejno, who just came in and lit it up, service-wise. That really was key for our comeback … his contribution was huge."
Dejno, who had 13 career aces coming in, opened Game 3 with his fourth of five aces in the match. He accounted for half of the 'Eaters' 10 aces, which were seven more than the No. 5-ranked Bruins (15-10, 8-9) produced.
Dejno also had eight kills, hitting .333, with one block assist.
Junior All-American opposite Carson Clark had a match-high 22 kills and hit .450 to help the Anteaters hit .356 as a team. Clark had two aces and two block assists.
Outside hitter Cory Yoder, one of four UCI players honored on senior night, had nine kills and hit .400.
Senior setter Anthony Spittle had 40 assists and six digs for UCI.
Speraw also credited contributions off the bench from senior middle blocker Kevin Wynne (one kill, one block assist and four digs), and sophomore libero Will Thomas (a team-best seven digs) with helping provide a shift for the winners.
