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Men’s Volleyball: ‘Eaters collect crown

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When it was over, in a tidy 81 minutes no less, the seniors wore the ceremonial Hawaii leis and the entire team ran under and through the crowd’s human tunnel.

But the UC Irvine men’s volleyball team is now intent on laying claim to the program’s fifth NCAA championship in nine seasons.

Coach David Kniffin’s Anteaters have put themselves in prime position to make the ultimate run by closing out visiting UC San Diego, 25-17, 25-21, 25-15. The No. 4-ranked ‘Eaters also wrapped up the outright Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular-season championship on senior night Saturday at the Bren Events Center.

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UCI (25-4, 19-3 in conference) is now the No. 1 seed in the MPSF Tournament, the winner of which earns an outright bid into the NCAA Championships, May 7 and 9 at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion. The regular-season outright title also creates a safety net to fall back upon, should UCI need one of two at-large bids into the six-team NCAA field that is pared to four by two play-in matches on May 5.

Further benefit is that the MPSF Tournament semifinals and final will be at UCI, as will UCI’s MPSF quarterfinal match on Saturday against No. 8-seeded UCLA, guided by former UCI head man John Speraw.

But the postseason climb will begin soon enough. Saturday was about savoring the impressive procession to base camp.

“To put together a body of work that spans four months, about which we could say that we were consistently good, is something really special for these guys,” Kniffin said after his team extended its winning streak to seven matches and has now won 19 of its last 21. “There may not be championship moments for them after this experience.”

Seniors Michael Brinkley, Zach La Cavera, Travis Woloson and Roberto Frazzoni are hoping there will be two more tournament titles ahead (MPSF and NCAA), the attainment of which would give Brinkley, La Cavera and Woloson three NCAA titles to cherish long after graduation.

“I think we’re on the right track, we’re focused on the right things in practice and we have the right attitude,” said Woloson, who hit .550 and produced a match-high 12 kills for the winners. “We need to just keep getting good challenges and going out there and building on it.”

There wasn’t much challenge from the Tritons (2-26, 0-22), whom UCI overwhelmed in many facets. The hosts, who lead the nation at nearly 14 kills per set, and assists (13.1) and hitting percentage (.358) hit .365 as a team Saturday.

UCI had eight of the match’s nine aces, with six players contributing to its total, and posted a 36-22 advantage in digs.

Sophomore setter Michael Saeta’s 26 assists were two more than UCSD accumulated. And Saeta, starting in place of Frazzoni for the first time in five matches, shared duties with his Chilean-born teammate, who chipped in 11 assists.

Brinkley, a two-time first-team All-American who is poised to add yet another honor this spring, had 14 digs. A handful of those were in typically spectacular fashion.

La Cavera, the MPSF Player of the Week the last two weeks, had 11 kills with a .421 hitting percentage, while adding two block assists and a solo stuff to nearly account for UCI’s four team blocks.

The ‘Eaters had 45 kills to the Tritons’ 26 and held the visitors to a paltry .165 hitting percentage.

UCSD’s lone advantage came in blocking (8.5-4).

UCSD hit .071 in the third set as UCI managed its 13th sweep of the season, though only its second in the last eight contests.

UCI’s ability to host the MPSF Tournament will spare it treacherous treks to either BYU or Hawaii, which attract the nation’s largest crowds.

“We are used to going to other places and it’s so much fun to compete in other gyms,” Woloson said. “But at home, I think it will just be awesome for us, because we’ll have a great crowd. We’re obviously comfortable playing here, so I think we’ll have to try to take advantage of that and bring what we have.”

The Bren Center has not exactly been a haven for UCI postseason runs.

The only time it played host to the MPSF Tournament, in 2006, UCI was upset in the semifinals and settled for an at-large berth into what then was the Final Four.

UCI played host to the NCAA Tournament in 2008, but had to watch from the stands.

“We love going on the road for MPSF [tournament matches] and we love hosting the MPSF [Tournament],” Kniffin said. But it’s good to be in the playoffs, where everybody wants to be. I’m glad we get to host. Hopefully, we’ll have iconic opponents so we can get a good buzz going in here to ride the wave from out men’s basketball success [the program’s first trip to the Division I NCAA Tournament after its inaugural Big West Conference Tournament crown]. But [playing at home] is a double-edged sword of convenience, plus distraction.”

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