USC
UC Irvine
No. 1 USC Men's Volleyball Defeats UC Irvine
March 12, 2011 | Men's Volleyball
March 12, 2011
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Murphy Troy had 16 kills and Tony Ciarelli added 12 kills with 5 digs and 4 blocks to help the No. 1-ranked USC men's volleyball team beat No. 7 UC Irvine, 25-22, 22-25, 25-17, 27-25, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Saturday (March 12) in USC's Galen Center.
USC improved its overall and MPSF records to 14-1. The Trojans are off to their best overall 15-match start since 2000 (also 14-1) and their best MPSF 15-match start since 1991 (15-0).
UC Irvine fell to 12-10 overall and 9-7 in the MPSF.
Trojans Steven Shandrick and Tri Bourne each added 9 kills, with Shandrick hitting .615. Teammate Henry Cassiday had a match-high 15 digs and Riley McKibbin added 12 digs
For the Anteaters, Carson Clark had a match-leading 27 kills with 7 digs and 3 blocks. Jeremy Denjo came off the bench to start the second set and ended up with 12 kills, while Will Montgomery had 10 digs and Anthony Spittle added 9 digs.
The Trojans hit .339 to UCI's .240. The Anteaters served 5 aces.
USC jumped out to a 4-1 start in the first set, but UCI pulled even at 21-21 before the Trojans scored the next 3 points to regain control. The second set was tied at 16-16 before the Anteaters went on a 5-point run to pull away. USC got out to a 5-3 lead in the third set, built it to 11-5 and was never threatened while hitting .478 and getting 3.5 blocks. The final set was tight throughout before consecutive kills by Austin Zahn and then Shandrick ended the match.
USC next takes its first break from MPSF play when it hosts Harvard in a non-conference match on Wednesday (March 16) at 7 p.m. in the Galen Center.
