USC
UC Irvine
No. 1 USC Men's Volleyball Wins At UC Irvine
January 19, 2011 | Men's Volleyball
Jan. 19, 2011
Murphy Troy had 19 kills and 11 digs while teammate Tony Ciarelli added 17 kills and 5 blocks to lead the top-ranked USC men's volleyball team to a 25-16, 27-25, 27-29, 25-17 win at No. 7 UC Irvine in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Wednesday (Jan. 19).
USC (3-0 overall, 3-0 MPSF), playing its first road match of 2011, is off to its first 3-0 start since 2000. It also was the Trojans' third consecutive win over UC Irvine (3-4, 1-2) since losing to the Anteaters in the 2009 NCAA Championship match. UCI entered the 2011 season picked by the MPSF coaches as the co-favorite with USC to win the league title.
The Trojans hit .351 in the match to the Anteaters' .242 and had more digs (38 to 28), but UCI had the edge in blocks (10.0 to 8.0).
Steven Shandrick hit .778 with 7 kills for USC, Tri Bourne came off the bench to get 8 kills (while hitting .500) and 5 digs, Riley McKibbin and Henry Cassiday each had 11 digs and Austin Zahn added 8 kills and 6 blocks.
For UCI, Cory Yoder--whose father, Bob, was an All-American at USC and later coached the Trojans to the 1988 NCAA crown--had 18 kills (hitting .500) and 6 digs, Carson Clark and Jeremy Denjo each had 10 kills, Scott Kevorken had 6 kills while hitting .625, John Caroompas added 9 digs and Kevin Wynne had 5 blocks.
USC broke an 11-11 tie in the first set by scoring a pair of unanswered points and then steadily pulled away while hitting .360 (UCI hit .000 in the set).
The Trojans trailed 20-15 in the second set when Bourne entered the match at outside hitter and he helped USC get back in the set. USC overcame set point as a UCI serving error followed by a Ciarelli kill knotted it at 24-24 and then Ciarelli and Shandrick combined for consecutive blocks at 25-25 to capture the set for the Trojans.
USC appeared on its way to a sweep as it led 17-12 in the third set when UCI switched setters, going with Anthony Spittle. He helped the Anteaters stave off match point at 24-21 and then, trailing 27-26, UCI used back-to-back kills by Kevorken followed by a Trojan hitting error to extend the match. Both teams hit well in that set, with UCI at .405 and USC at .350.
USC restored order in the fourth set. After it was tied at 7-7, the Trojans broke away with 2 straight points and then kept extending the margin while hitting .419 to UCI's .167.
The Trojans continue their 5-match road swing when they travel to No. 15 UC San Diego on Friday (Jan. 21) at 7 p.m. USC is looking for its first 4-0 season start since 1995.
