USC
UC Irvine
UC Irvine, Stanford Win MPSF Men's Volleyball Semifinals
April 26, 2012 | Men's Volleyball
April 26, 2012
Kevin Tillie had 23 kills and 11 digs to lead the No. 2-ranked UC Irvine men's volleyball team back from a 2-set deficit and snap No. 1 USC's 18-match winning streak with a 24-26, 23-25, 25-16, 28-26, 15-9 victory in a semifinal match of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament on Thursday (April 26) in front of 1,500 fans in USC's Galen Center.
In the evening's first semifinal, Brad Lawson had 17 kills and Brian Cook added 16 kills as No. 3 Stanford (22-6) outlasted No. 4 BYU (24-7), 25-21, 17-25, 25-19, 35-33.
The Anteaters and Cardinal will meet on Saturday (April 28) at 7 p.m. in the Galen Center in the MPSF tourney's championship match, with the victor earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Championships May 3 and 5 in the Galen Center.
In the second semifinal, UCI (23-5) hit .290, while the Trojans (23-5) hit just .194. The Anteaters served 8 aces.
USC also had its 11-match home winning streak snapped. The last time the Trojans lost a match after holding a 2-0 lead was in 2006 at UCLA.
Tillie hit .372 for the Anteaters. Teammate Kevin Carroll came off the bench after the second set and added 12 kills while hitting .476 and had 7 digs. Carson Clark added 14 kills, 8 digs, 3 aces and 4 blocks, while Connor Hughes had 10 kills, Scott Kevorken had 8 blocks and Chris Austin had 13 digs.
For USC, Tony Ciarelli had 22 kills and 9 digs, Micah Christenson had 11 digs and Robert Feathers had 6 blocks.
In the first set, neither team could gain more than a 3-point advantage and then the set got tight late before an Anteater serving error followed a UCI hitting error ended the set as the Trojans overcame 3 UCI aces by hitting .435. The second set was as tight as the first before a pair of Ciarelli kills ended the set as USC notched 4.0 blocks. UCI jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead in the third set and never let up behind 7.0 blocks. The fourth set started out with the Anteaters up 5-0, but USC slowly climbed back, tying it at 24-24, then going up 25-24 before UCI regained control and used a Carroll kill followed by a Tillie ace to finish the set while hitting .432. UCI ran off 5 straight points to go up 11-6 in the fifth set and take control of the set while hitting .360.
"It's always a great win when you go down 0-2 and come back to win," said UC Irvine head coach John Speraw. "Under these conditions, it shows great character and a lot of focus. I'm proud of these guys."
Said Tillie: "After we were down 0-2, we said we have nothing to lose and we played as hard as we could."
"That was one of our worst matches since January," said USC head coach Bill Ferguson. "But credit UC Irvine. They served us out of system all night. We also didn't block or dig well. We had too many opportunities in transition and didn't capitalize or make plays when we needed."
In the opening match, both teams hit nearly even (.262 by Stanford and .255 by BYU), although BYU had more blocks (16.5 to 11.0).
Steven Irvin added 12 kills for the Cardinal, Eric Mochalski had 3 aces and 4 blocks, Erik Shoji had 15 digs, Evan Barry had 11 digs and Gus Ellis had 5 blocks.
For BYU, Taylor Sander had 27 kills while hitting .327 and he added 10 digs, Robb Stowell had 11 kills, 11 digs and 6 blocks, Russ Lavaja had 7 blocks and Jaylen Reyes had 16 digs.
The first set was tight until Stanford scored back-to-back points to open up a 17-15 edge and BYU could not catch up as both teams hit for a high percentage (.400 for the Cardinal and .371 for the Cougars). BYU ran away early with the second set, scoring 6 of 7 points to open up an 11-5 lead and the Cougars were never threatened as Stanford hit just .029. Stanford went on a 5-2 run early in the third set to forge a 10-6 lead that held up the rest of the way despite 5.0 blocks by BYU (the Cougars hit only .093 in the set). The marathon fourth set seesawed throughout until a combo block by Irvin and Mochalski followed by a Mochalski ace ended the match.
"When you put the top four teams in the country together, you know it's going to be a barnburner," said Stanford head coach John Kosty. "BYU is a tremendous team. We have a saying, `You have to grind it out.' We definitely grinded out the match tonight."
Said Ellis: "In tight matches like this, you need a tight team. We are a tight team on and off the court. When it comes to these situations, we are ready for it."
"We knew going forward this was going to be an exciting match," said BYU head coach Chris McGown. "Stanford is an excellent team and all the credit to them."
