A low comfort level

IRVINE — As if battling the No. 12-ranked team in the nation wasn’t challenging enough, UC Irvine women’s volleyball players were also playing the percentages Wednesday night.

In their first home match of the season, their only contest as host in their first 14 matches through the end of September, the Anteaters were anxious about making a strong first impression on their home faithful, which included Karch Kiraly and Kobe Bryant.

Clearly, a little too anxious.

The powerful, tall, athletic and experienced Oregon Ducks took complete advantage, then waded out of some tight late-game situations in the final two sets to claim a 25-20, 25-22, 26-24 nonconference sweep.

“I think that’s what hurt us in the first game,” UCI Coach Charlie Brande said of his team’s high home anxiety. “We were so anxious to play on our home floor.”

But the only thing tight about the Ducks, who featured 6-foot-3 senior outside hitter Gorana Maricic, a second-team All-American last season, was their cohesion.

Oregon seized a 6-1 cushion to keep the home crowd muted and the home team equally muffled.

After the hot start, Oregon led by no fewer than four and by as many as eight in the opening game, and the visitors (6-1) maintained the lead early in the second set, until UCI (3-4) earned its first lead of the match at 12-11.

UCI was up, 21-20, and also at 22-21, but a UCI hitting error and three Oregon kills, two by 6-1 junior Sonja Newcombe, helped Oregon win the game and remain in control of the match.

Back-to-back kills by senior outside hitter Lauren Kellerman gave UCI a 19-16 advantage in the third game, but Oregon rallied to tie it at 20, then took a 21-20 lead.

UCI, which appeared to gain a spark from reserves such as freshman middle blocker Alex Hauser, junior Alex Filkins and junior McCall Miller, rallied to forge a 24-24 deadlock.

But Oregon closed out the match with a pair of kills, the latter by Newcombe, who finished with 10.

Maricic had a match-high 14 kills, some of which cascaded over UCI blockers.

“We were physically outmanned,” Brande said. “They were hitting over the top of us. But I think we really battled. Especially in the second and third games, we put together a strong effort.

“One of the things this team needs to do that our former teams have done a pretty good job of is being a little more precise with the ball, especially at the end of each of those games. We made the mistakes that allowed them to finish it out. We need a little more precision, especially against teams that are so physical.”

The Anteaters seemed to clear the mental hurdles better after the first set, but lacking the ability to consistently put the ball away at the net (they hit .200 as a team, including .186 in the first game and .167 in Game 3), UCI struggled to mount any momentum.

Kellerman led the ’Eaters with 13 kills, Pestolesi added 11 and Shannan Homan chipped in eight. But Homan hit just .095 and Pestolesi, the Region and Big West Conference Freshman of the Year last season, finished with a .214 hitting percentage.

Kellerman hit .303, but had to mix in a healthy dose of off-speed shots to find more success against the Oregon blocking skyline.

Junior setter Taryn Robertson had 34 assists for UCI, for whom senior libero Devon Sutherland had a match-high 19 digs.

UCI had 10 serving errors, double the Oregon total.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].