Men S Volleyball

The biggest day in the history of UC Irvine athletics not only stretched the boundaries of reason, it also posed a substantial logistical challenge for those compelled to keep tabs. On June 18 in Washington, D.C., the men's volleyball team was recognized on the South Lawn of the White House for claiming the program's first NCAA championship six weeks prior. Just a few hours later in Omaha. Neb., the baseball team was on its way to winning the longest game in College World Series history, capturing the hearts of many fans in attendance at Rosenblatt Stadium, as well as those of a national television audience that took in the five-hour, 40 minute diamond drama.

BANGKOK, Thailand — Former UC Irvine All-American Jayson Jablonsky led the U.S. men's volleyball team with 12 kills in a 21-25, 26-28, 37-39 loss to defending champion Turkey Thursday at the World University Games. Team USA, which also includes former Anteaters All-Americans David Smith and Brian Thornton, will play Italy for the bronze medal Saturday at Thammasat University. Jablonsky recorded all 12 of his points on kills, while Smith added eight points. Thornton, a setter, saw action in all three games.

IRVINE — Score another upset for the UC Irvine men's volleyball program, which won a battle against UCLA to host the four-team 2008 NCAA championship at the Bren Events Center. "We're big on upsets here," said UCI men's volleyball Coach John Speraw, who spoke Thursday at UCI as part of the official announcement that the sport's final four was coming to campus May 1 and 3, 2008. Speraw said the fact that the Bren Center seats only 5,000 — a relatively small venue for college arenas — was a benefit, rather than a concern for NCAA officials.

MEN'S VOLLEYBALL UC Irvine def. California Baptist RIVERSIDE — The Anteaters, the top-ranked team in the nation, opened up their season with a 30-24, 30-23, 27-30, 30-25 victory over host California Baptist Wednesday.   Jayson Jablonsky, last year's National Player of the Year, recorded a team-high 17 kills and 11 digs for UC Irvine (1-0). Brian Thornton dished out 60 assists and had 11 digs, Matt Webber had 15 kills, Cole Reinholm had 12, David Smith had 10 kills and eight blocks and Aaron Harrel had 10 kills.

UC Irvine was awarded the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association All-Sports Trophy for 2006-07. The annual award is given to the best all-around sports program in Division I-AAA (schools without football programs). UC Irvine was the top-ranked Division I-AAA school in the U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup standings. Coach John Speraw's Anteaters claimed the national championship in men's volleyball. UCI's baseball team also reached the College World Series, losing to eventual national champion Oregon State in its pool.

The top 10 Newport-Mesa sports stories of 2006, as selected by the Daily Pilot sports staff. 1 UC Irvine men's volleyball: The Anteaters, who won their first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular-season title, earned an at-large berth to the four-team NCAA Championships at Penn State. Playing in their first Final Four, UCI lost a semifinal match to Penn State to finish 27-5. The 'Eaters, who were ranked No. 1 in the nation at one point, finished No. 2 in the final national poll.

Steve Virgen Call it the Orange Coast Connection. There's some six degrees of Pirates going on at Coast as there are several links of athlete to athlete and how they came to know of the school by the beach with all the beautiful girls -- and, oh yeah, they have a pretty good athletic program. We start with the football team where the Bucs landed their No. 1 recruit in prep phenom linebacker Marvin Simmons. After realizing he couldn't play for USC, Simmons considered El Camino, Compton and San Francisco City, but chose OCC mainly because the school came recommended by the Trojans.

IRVINE - In a showdown of the nation's men's volleyball elite, two was certainly better than one Friday night. No. 2-ranked BYU consistently came up with more answers than top-ranked UCI, enabling the Cougars to rally for a 22-25, 24-26, 25-23, 25-23, 15-11 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation victory in front of 2,906 at the Bren Events Center. UCI (15-4, 12-4 in conference), which came in on an 11-match winning streak that began after a four-game setback at BYU on Jan. 18, handled the visitors in the opening two sets and held leads of 14-8 and 19-14 in Game 3. But the Cougars (12-3, 11-2)

IRVINE - The quickest way to solve the puzzle is to find the missing piece. The UC Irvine men's volleyball team found enough personnel pieces to complete a 20-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-22 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation victory over visiting UC Santa Barbara on Thursday. The victory extended the Anteaters' winning streak to seven matches and solidified the No. 1 national ranking they share with BYU. UCI Coach David Kniffin substituted with purpose after the No. 15-ranked Gauchos seized the momentum in the first set. "We were prepared from the game-plan standpoint," Kniffin said.

After winning the program's third NCAA championship in six seasons in 2012, the UC Irvine men's volleyball team said goodbye to a legendary coach who some consider the best in the business, a four-time All-American who is the school's career kills leader, an All-American middle blocker, and two reserves gifted enough to start for most programs in America. Any perception of devastation, however, was quickly dispelled by UCI's first No. 1 ranking in the American Volleyball Coaches' Assn.

Costa Mesa resident Jake Gibb and Corona del Mar resident Sean Rosenthal, who entered the London Olympics as the top men's beach volleyball team in the world, suffered a stunning loss on Monday and were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Gibb and Rosenthal, the No. 4-seeded team, fell, 19-21, 21-18, 15-11, to the No. 17-seeded Janis Smedins and Martin Plavins from Latvia. The Americans led, 18-15, in Game 2, needing just three points to better the fifth-place finish they achieved at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Once more with perspective. UC Irvine’s second men’s volleyball national championship in three seasons was still resonating 11 days after the title match victory over USC in Provo, Utah, as an estimated 3,000 students and supporters gathered to honor the Anteaters on campus Wednesday. Coach John Speraw said adding another title to the program’s first NCAA crown in 2007 represents a landmark for his program. “Winning national championship No. 2 is incredibly significant,” Speraw said while addressing the crowd outside the student center.

Scott Kevorken, a 6-foot-9 senior at Westlake High who helped the U.S. youth national team win a gold medal at the NORCEDA Youth Continental Championships in August, leads a list of three recruits who have signed national letters of intent to play men’s volleyball at UC Irvine, Anteaters Coach John Speraw said. Kevorken, a middle blocker, was a team MVP last season, when he earned first-team All-Marmonte League, second-team All-Ventura County and third-team All-CIF Southern Section laurels.

Mere days after returning from Beijing, China, where as an assistant coach, John Speraw helped the United States win the men’s volleyball gold medal, Speraw will be taking his UC Irvine men’s team to Venezuela for a two-week trip, beginning today. The Anteaters will arrive in Buenos Aires today, the first stop in a three-city tour that will include three exhibition matches, followed by a tournament. The team will return home Sept. 15. “It gives us some extra days of training and it allows us to get some international experience,” Speraw said.

UC Irvine men’s volleyball coach John Speraw is an assistant coach for the U.S. men’s volleyball team that will take part in the Olympics in Beijing, China, beginning Aug. 10. A former All-American middle blocker at UCLA, where he worked as an assistant coach before coming to UCI, Speraw guided the Anteaters to the program’s lone national championship in 2007. He took a few moments before leaving for China to answer a few questions about his experiences with Team USA and what lies ahead in Beijing.