David Smith

BANGKOK, Thailand — Former UC Irvine All-American middle blocker David Smith started all three games to help the U.S. men's volleyball team defeat Italy, 25-15, 25-2, 25-16, in the bronze-medal match of the World University Games Saturday at Thammasat University. Smith contributed six points, four kills and two blocks to help the Americans finish 7-1 in the tournament. Former UCI All-American setter Brian Thornton came off the bench to play in two games, while former Anteaters All-American Jayson Jablonsky played in the third game.

BANGKOK, Thailand — Former UC Irvine All-American Jayson Jablonsky posted a team-high 10 kills to lead the U.S. men's volleyball team to a 25-19, 25-20, 25-22 sweep of Chinese Taipai Monday to conclude pool play undefeated at the World University Games. Jablonsky, the 2006 National and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year who helped lead the Anteaters to the NCAA Final Four two straight seasons, including the program's first championship last year, took advantage of his first start of the tournament.

UC Irvine men's volleyball players Jayson Jablonsky and David Smith scored nine and eight points, respectively, in the United States junior national team's 25-22, 25-22, 35-33 pool play loss to Brazil at the FIVB men's U-21 world volleyball championships Sunday in Visakhapatnam, India. Jablonsky and Smith, playing for UCI Coach John Speraw, who is guiding the junior national team, will be juniors in the fall for the Anteaters. Smith, a 6-foot-7 middle blocker, had seven kills and one block.

BANGKOK, Thailand — Former UC Irvine All-American setter Brian Thornton provided a spark in the fifth game to help the U.S. men's volleyball team rally for a 25-22, 34-32, 22-25, 17-25, 15-13 victory over Poland Sunday in pool play at the World University Games. Poland, which entered the match 3-0 in Pool C, the same record posted by the Americans, seized a 5-0 lead in the fifth game. Poland was ahead, 9-3, when Thornton, who has been coming off the bench for Team USA, entered the contest.

IRVINE — When David Smith and Jayson Jablonksy played for UC Irvine they learned about the game of volleyball from a man named John Speraw. Two years after leaving the UCI program they still give props to Speraw, the Anteaters’ coach, for what they earn from the game. It would have been easy to talk about the successful and impressive execution from the U.S. men’s national team here, but the Americans had it so easy the two former UCI players had time to reminisce.

Students at Orange Coast Middle College High School in Costa Mesa learned military history first-hand Friday, with a visit from veterans of several wars, including World War II and Vietnam. Battle of the Bay? Student Haylie Roberts’ grandfather, Cliff Roberts, spoke of his experiences in World War II. “To be an American is the most wonderful thing in the world,” he said. Before serving on the cruiser USS Reno, Roberts recalled traveling in a boat across the San Francisco Bay to see the ship being built.

BANGKOK, Thailand — United States men's volleyball player David Smith, who helped UC Irvine to the national championship, has been chosen as flag bearer of the U.S. team for the 2007 Summer World University Games. Smith was named by the Team USA captains and will lead the U.S. delegation into the Opening Ceremonies tonight. "It's something I never thought I'd be able to do," Smith said in a press release. "It's an amazing honor, and I'm looking forward to it — it's going to be exciting."

Deepa Bharath When Liz Sullivan sees her brothers and sisters, the floodgates swing open and she gets caught in a pleasant maelstrom of memories and emotions. Sullivan, her three sisters and two brothers form the core group of the Smith family reunion committee, which has been successful in getting the whole family together every five years since 1991. This reunion, the family decided to meet in Costa Mesa, home to one of the sisters, Margaret Dailey, 75, the oldest of them all. The response was amazing.

IRVINE ? A laugher. That?s the way the U.S. men?s volleyball national team win against Guatemala could have been described in the Americans? opener of the four-team qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Championships. At times Jayson Jablonsky nearly had to keep himself from laughing, as Team USA annihilated Guatemala, 25-8, 25-10, 25-6, in front of about 800 at UC Irvine?s Bren Event Center Saturday night. It was only two years ago that Jablonsky smiled plenty at UCI, then leading the Anteaters to their first national championship.

Chris Yemma David Smith, a sophomore on the UC Irvine men's volleyball team, is anything but impaired when it comes to a net and a ball. The rising middle blocker has moved into a more prominent role this season after a lesser role last season in which he averaged 2.22 kills per game, led the team in hitting percentage at .369 and was second in blocking with a 1.03 per-game average. He even played well enough to be selected to play on the U.S. junior men's team that finished second to Cuba in the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation tournament this past summer.

Dr. David Maurice Smith In loving memory of Dr. David Maurice Smith, 55, of Newport Beach, who passed away on February 9, 2012. Born on January 9, 1957 in Whittier, California. Loving husband and father to four children. He grew up in Whittier along with his two sisters and brother and attended California High School. He met his beloved wife, Donna, while growing up in Whittier, and had been together since she was thirteen years old. He and Donna both went on to UCLA and then to USC School of Dentistry.

Students at Orange Coast Middle College High School in Costa Mesa learned military history first-hand Friday, with a visit from veterans of several wars, including World War II and Vietnam. Battle of the Bay? Student Haylie Roberts’ grandfather, Cliff Roberts, spoke of his experiences in World War II. “To be an American is the most wonderful thing in the world,” he said. Before serving on the cruiser USS Reno, Roberts recalled traveling in a boat across the San Francisco Bay to see the ship being built.

IRVINE — When David Smith and Jayson Jablonksy played for UC Irvine they learned about the game of volleyball from a man named John Speraw. Two years after leaving the UCI program they still give props to Speraw, the Anteaters’ coach, for what they earn from the game. It would have been easy to talk about the successful and impressive execution from the U.S. men’s national team here, but the Americans had it so easy the two former UCI players had time to reminisce.

IRVINE ? A laugher. That?s the way the U.S. men?s volleyball national team win against Guatemala could have been described in the Americans? opener of the four-team qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Championships. At times Jayson Jablonsky nearly had to keep himself from laughing, as Team USA annihilated Guatemala, 25-8, 25-10, 25-6, in front of about 800 at UC Irvine?s Bren Event Center Saturday night. It was only two years ago that Jablonsky smiled plenty at UCI, then leading the Anteaters to their first national championship.

BANGKOK, Thailand — Former UC Irvine All-American middle blocker David Smith started all three games to help the U.S. men's volleyball team defeat Italy, 25-15, 25-2, 25-16, in the bronze-medal match of the World University Games Saturday at Thammasat University. Smith contributed six points, four kills and two blocks to help the Americans finish 7-1 in the tournament. Former UCI All-American setter Brian Thornton came off the bench to play in two games, while former Anteaters All-American Jayson Jablonsky played in the third game.

BANGKOK, Thailand — Former UC Irvine All-American Jayson Jablonsky posted a team-high 10 kills to lead the U.S. men's volleyball team to a 25-19, 25-20, 25-22 sweep of Chinese Taipai Monday to conclude pool play undefeated at the World University Games. Jablonsky, the 2006 National and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year who helped lead the Anteaters to the NCAA Final Four two straight seasons, including the program's first championship last year, took advantage of his first start of the tournament.

BANGKOK, Thailand — Former UC Irvine All-American setter Brian Thornton provided a spark in the fifth game to help the U.S. men's volleyball team rally for a 25-22, 34-32, 22-25, 17-25, 15-13 victory over Poland Sunday in pool play at the World University Games. Poland, which entered the match 3-0 in Pool C, the same record posted by the Americans, seized a 5-0 lead in the fifth game. Poland was ahead, 9-3, when Thornton, who has been coming off the bench for Team USA, entered the contest.

BANGKOK, Thailand — United States men's volleyball player David Smith, who helped UC Irvine to the national championship, has been chosen as flag bearer of the U.S. team for the 2007 Summer World University Games. Smith was named by the Team USA captains and will lead the U.S. delegation into the Opening Ceremonies tonight. "It's something I never thought I'd be able to do," Smith said in a press release. "It's an amazing honor, and I'm looking forward to it — it's going to be exciting."

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A panel of media voted UC Irvine senior opposite Matt Webber Most Valuable Player of the NCAA men's volleyball championship, won by the Anteaters Thursday before 4,756 spectators at Ohio State's St. John Arena Saturday. But, as if to emphasize the team focus that has carried Coach John Speraw's squad to back-to-back Final Four appearances, Webber almost refused to accept credit. "The MVP doesn't really mean much, because we were a team and we played as a team the whole way through," said the 6-foot-6 second-team All-American, who had a team-best 22 kills in 35 attempts, with only six errors, to record an impressive .457 hitting percentage.

Skateboarding is forbidden at UC Irvine, but senior David Smith still frequently rolls around campus without being detected. "You have to stay off the main paths," he said recently upon arriving via skateboard for an afternoon interview at Crawford Hall. His first three seasons on the UCI men's volleyball team, Smith, a 6-foot-7 starting middle blocker, most often left the spotlight for his teammates. Last season, when Anteaters Jayson Jablonsky, Matt Webber, Brian Thornton and Brent Osuka were earning All-American laurels, Smith was given honorable mention in the coaches' All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation voting.