Middling no more

Kevin Wynne’s breakout season is coming more than three years after his breakout performance.

The former has included second-team All-American laurels for the 6-foot-7 middle blocker, who led the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in conference play with a .479 hitting percentage.

His 1.34 blocks per game rank 14th nationally, third among players competing in the four-team NCAA Championship, in which the top-seeded Anteaters (25-5) meet No. 4-seeded Ohio State (17-10) in one semifinal tonight at 8 at BYU’s Smith Fieldhouse.

And the redshirt sophomore’s intelligence and budding experience as a second-year starter have helped UCI lead the nation in blocking (3.50 per game).

He was also named second-team All-MPSF after hitting .500 or better in 17 matches.

But the aforementioned breakout performance had less to do with volleyball and more to do with ditching his quiet, unassuming persona. It featured Wynne rocking a comically poofy 1970s afro wig and donning his best “Saturday Night Fever” disco duds for a team outing at Midnight Magic, an event introducing the school’s men’s and women’s basketball teams.

“That’s pretty much as crazy as it gets for me,” said Wynne, who shared valedictorian honors at Capistrano Valley High, where he posted a 4.36 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale with bonus points for advanced placement courses).

“The volleyball players always dress up [in costume] and it’s always a ’70s theme. I went all out my freshman year [October of 2006]. I’d say my costume that year was the best I’ve ever seen.”

Wynne was barely seen by recruiters at Capo Valley. And while the second of his two varsity seasons there produced All-South Coast League recognition, Wynne was clearly less than the best among his peers.

“I’ve always kind of been one of the guys that snuck behind the radar,” said Wynne, who parlayed some strong recommendations from a former UCI player (then a Capo Valley assistant coach) and some coaches at the Balboa Bay Volleyball Club, into a walk-on opportunity at UCI.

“Some people that I trust were really promoting Kevin,” UCI Coach John Speraw said. “Everybody was telling me, ‘This is somebody you need in your program.’ ”

And while happy to be able to combine volleyball with respected academics at UCI, Wynne said he was not initially convinced he belonged on the court in a program that went on to win its first NCAA title in 2007.

“When I first got here, I was like ‘Wow, this is way beyond me,’ ” Wynne recalled. “The speed of the game was so fast. My first practice, I would just stand there at points, because I would try to make a [blocking] read and the read would just be completely off.”

But an admirable work ethic and uncommon intelligence helped Wynne eventually stand tall as a starter early in his redshirt freshman season.

Those attributes, as well as the cultivation and refinement of technical skills, have helped Wynne emerge as a valuable contributor for the ’Eaters.

“He is intelligent and he works incredibly hard,” Speraw said. “During timeouts, I could pretty much hand him a clipboard and I’m sure he could run it. We identify tendencies in our opponents, but sometimes, it isn’t until the fifth game that you see one of those tendencies. All five or six guys on the court will have forgotten by then, but Kevin will be the one that makes the play. It’s one thing to understand the game plan, and it’s another to remember the game plan and execute it under pressure. Kevin is exceptional at doing that.”

Though he occasionally shows some exuberance while celebrating a big play, Wynne most often offers an expression similar to his soft-spoken, monotone speech.

Once considered a bit of a nerd in high school, Wynne agrees that he is one middle blocker whose personality is clearly middle of the road.

The business economics major, with a 3.32 cumulative GPA, however, has just as clearly been a central figure in the Anteaters’ success.

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