‘Eaters’ depth is vital

IRVINE — As with most teams this early in the season, the UC Irvine men’s volleyball squad is lacking consistency. But, perhaps blessed like few others, Coach John Speraw showed Wednesday night that the Anteaters figure to have the option of a consistent Plan B.

Speraw brought four players off the bench who contributed significantly to the No. 3-ranked Anteaters’ 30-27, 24-30, 30-25, 30-27, win over No. 7-ranked Pepperdine in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener at the Bren Events Center.

Sophomore opposite Carson Clark blasted a career-high 26 kills, while fellow starter Jordan DuFault, a junior outside hitter, added 19.

Senior starting libero Kevin Welch had a career- and match-high 13 digs while failing to make a service receiving error in 34 chances.

But Speraw also had plenty of good things to say about sophomore middle blocker Austin D’Amore, freshman outside hitter Connor Hughes, junior setter Anthony Spittle and senior opposite Cole Reinholm, all of whom sparkled in reserve duty.

“We did have a great contribution from the bench tonight,” said Speraw, whose defending national champions improved to 4-1, entering Friday’s home MPSF showdown against No. 1-ranked USC. The rematch of last year’s NCAA final begins at 7 p.m.

“So I think it’s awesome for us to have that kind of depth.”

D’Amore was summoned near the end of Game 2 to replace senior starter Bryan Simmons.

Hughes relieved sophomore Kevin Carroll (10 kills), who was plagued by biceps tendinitis in his right (hitting) arm, Spittle took over for junior Jeff Schmitz (41 assists) full time in Game 3 and Reinholm was used as a designated server.

Other than Carroll’s injury, Speraw said the substitutions were made due to a gut feeling.

“With Austin, I think we needed a change there,” Speraw said. “With Hughes, I knew we could go to him and there wouldn’t be that much of a drop-off.

“With Spittle, I’d just seen enough. Our setting had deteriorated to the point where Anthony deserved to stay in.

“There are years when you have guys on the bench who aren’t as skilled, or not as experienced, and so it gives you some hesitation to make those moves. But, this year, I have zero hesitation.”

Spittle contributed 17 assists and a crowd-pleasing stuff block.

Hughes had five kills, while D’Amore, a starter much of his freshman campaign, had three kills and a dig.

The lineup changes helped the hosts come at Pepperdine (0-2) in waves.

But they also revealed that UCI is still searching to find cohesion.

“We need consistency in our ball control, in our setting, and in our shot selection,” Speraw said. “There’s a lot of learning to be done and I’m excited about teaching it.”

Clark came out on fire, posting 14 kills in the opening set, in which he had a .750 hitting percentage.

But Clark, largely due to setting and passing woes, Speraw said, made eight hitting errors in Game 2, as the visitors evened the match.

Clark led all players with 28.5 points and chipped in 11 digs.

Junior middle blocker Kevin Wynne added five kills and four block assists for the winners.

DuFault, despite playing with a sore back that prevented him from finishing practices this week, had eight kills in the third set to help UCI reestablish command.

Pepperdine hit .083 in that third set, then committed seven of its 15 service errors in the fourth game to allow the ’Eaters to close out the match.

UCI had 17 service errors and managed a narrow advantage in total blocks (11.5 to nine).

Pepperdine senior libero Sean Grubbs, a Newport Harbor High product, had five digs.

“We didn’t play incredibly smooth and I think our offense struggled, at times, for specific reasons,” Speraw said. “I’m looking forward to getting back in the gym, working on those reasons, and seeing how much we can improve.”