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2013 NCAA Championship Anniversary

In 2013, UC Irvine captured their fourth national championship in a seven-year span with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 26-24) sweep of top-ranked BYU at Pauley Pavilion on May 4, 2013.

UC Irvine will celebrate the 10-year anniversary by honoring the 2013 team prior to Friday’s match against UCLA.

The magical season saw the Anteaters go 25-7 overall and 18-6 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

HOW THEY GOT THERE

After a fall trip to Argentina, UCI entered the season as the defending national champions, holding the No. 1 ranking and under the guidance of new head coach David Kniffin.

The Anteaters started the season with four straight wins, winning the UCSB Invitational for the fourth time in program history with a 3-2 win over UCLA. Zach La Cavera led UCI against the Bruins with a career-high 17 kills and four aces.

In the opening match, middle blocker Collin Mehring hit 1.000 on a career-high 11 kills on 11 swings with no errors tying the school record.

Mehring was named the tournament MVP, while outside hitter Connor Hughes was selected to the all-tournament team.

Following the tournament, Jeremy Dejno was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Men's Division I-II National Player of the Week. He had 15 kills over the first two matches then hit .481 on 13 kills without an error in 27 swings versus UCLA. He also added seven digs and two aces.

Jeremy Dejno

“At that time, winning the UCSB Tournament was instant credibility. We had some new guys on the court with increased responsibility. So, for us to face a UCLA in the finals -- talented as always and now coached by our previous head coach -- and then for us to win... I believe that was significant.”

Three straight losses to No. 8 USC, No. 14 California Baptist and No. 3 BYU would follow giving UCI a reality check. The Anteaters, who hadn’t lost three in row since 2010, would drop to No. 3 in the rankings.

In an epic battle of the nation's top two team, No. 2 BYU rallied to win the last three sets and upend No. 1 UC Irvine 3-2 (22-25, 24-26, 25023, 25-23, 15-11) at the Bren Events Center in front of 2,906 fans.

Mehring set a school record with a career-high 14 block assists, but Ben Patch led all players with a career-high 35 kills, which was a BYU's rally scoring record.

The loss to Cal Baptist was in five and I remember nothing going right for us that night. It was really loud in there with their students and I remember probably the only time that season that Kevin Tillie lost a joust and at that moment I knew it wasn’t our night.
“About that same time, I had a conversation with Collin Mehring and we talked about how when you win you don’t notice the things you need to work on and when you lose you get exposed, but my favorite comment following that BYU match came from Laurent Tillie, Kevin’s father, who said they are a little better than you right now. It was so casual.”

UCI would then rattle off 11 wins in a row

Kevin Tillie hit .450 with a season-high 21 kills and an ace and tied his season-high with eight digs in a 3-2 victory over Black & Blue Rival Long Beach State at the Bren Center.

UC Irvine moved up a spot in the rankings and had to battled back to win the final two sets in a 3-2 win over No. 5 UCLA, 3-2 at Pauley Pavilion. Libero Michael Brinkley posted a career-high 20 digs.

“Brinkley ended up being in the right spot, but it wasn’t that we would score off his digs, it was that they weren’t hitting at the efficiency that they normally would. It was the first time that I really felt like we were committed to something we started working on in Argentina. The front row and back court defense are a single unit.”

The Anteaters would climb back to the top spot in the country, tied at No. 1 with BYU and would pick up a 3-0 at UC San Diego in an hour and 11 minutes, hitting .493. The UCI middle blockers were perfect offensively with Scott Kevorken hitting .800 with eight kills on 10 swings and Mehring hit .500 and recording five kills.

Kevin Tillie

Off the court, UCI had a few highlights as well. Tillie and Kevorken joined Kniffin at the LA Sports Awards where UCI's 2012 National Championship was named a LA Sports Council 2012 Greatest Moment.

UCI was also recognized by the NCAA for its 2012 National Championship at the NCAA Men's Basketball West Regional held at the Staples Center.

2012 National Championship halftime recognition at Staples Center

After winning the 11 in a row, No. 2 UCI had a 15-day layoff and suffered a 3-1 loss to No. 4 UCLA after hitting a hit a season low .183 then had to rally from two-sets down to beat UC San Diego behind Connor Hughes’ season-high 17 kills, eight digs and three blocks.

“We weren’t done figuring out who we were yet.”

The Anteaters would drop to No. 4 and beat No. 8 Stanford 3-0 at the Bren Events Center. Outside hitter Kyle Russell had a career night with a career-best 14 kills, hitting .765 (14-1-17), while middle blocker Ian Castellana also had a career-high night with six block assists.

Ian Castellana

Following the win over the Cardinal, the Anteaters defeated Pacific hitting a season-high .515 with 41 kills and just six errors in 68 attempts, while holding the Tigers to a .091 (26-20-66) mark.

Russell would earn Sports Imports/AVCA Men's Division I-II National Player of the Week after averaging 4.00 kills over those two matches.

To end the regular season, UCI would beat Penn State 3-0 to record its fifth consecutive victory and its fourth consecutive sweep on senior night.

2013 Seniors

The Anteaters tied with Long Beach State for second place in the MPSF standings with an 18-6 mark. UCI would be the No. 2 seed for the MPSF Championship held in Provo, Utah, holding the tiebreaker due to beating the Forty-Niners twice in league play.

La Cavera posted a career-high 19 kills to lead UCI to a 3-2 victory over No. 7 seed UC Santa Barbara in the MPSF Championship first round. Tillie had 15 kills and seven digs.

In the semifinal with No. 3 Long Beach State, UCI trailed 14-10 in the fifth, but pulled even at 14-14 on back-to-back blocks by Mehring and Hughes and a kill by Tillie. Two Long Beach State errors gave UCI the 19-18 lead, but turned around and committed two consecutive errors to put LBSU back on top 20-19. A kill by La Cavera tied the set at 20-20 before Long Beach State scored the final two points on Anteater errors, 22-20. UCI fought off nine match points in the set. Russell led UCI with a career-high 17 kills and a career and match-best 14 digs in the loss.

“I thought we were well prepared for that, but the small court, crisp level of play and defensive tenacity and shorter runway with the jump serve space, all played well to Long Beach’s style and Taylor Crabb played exceptional.”

The Anteaters would stay and watch BYU rally to beat UCLA in the other semifinal and go on to capture the MPSF title over the Forty-Niners, helping UCI garner the at-large bid to the NCAA Championship at Pauley Pavilion.

It would be UCI’s fifth trip to the NCAAs, winning in 2007, 2009 and 2012.

SHOWTIME

Coach David Kniffin's Anteaters would sweep Loyola in the semifinal, hitting .500, the second best offensive performance of the year. Tillie led UCI with a match-high 14 kills, hitting .579 with seven digs.

In the opening game, Loyola had a kill for set point, 24-23, but the Anteaters answered with the final three points on kills by Mehring, Kevorken and La Cavera to win, 26-24.

Kevin Tillie

UCI would win the second set 25-18 and hold match point in the third (24-21) on a Mehring kill before the Ramblers rallied with the next three points to knot the score at 24-24. The teams would trade points until a block by Kevorken and Austin was followed by a kill by Hughes to end the match 29-27.

“I probably took Loyola for granted. We didn’t play clean. But Connor, who didn’t start, came into the match and steadied us out.”

The top two teams would meet in a showdown in the final after UCI dropped two losses during the regular season.

Michael Brinkley
First year head coach David Kniffin
Collin Mehring

The second-seeded Anteaters beat the top-seeded Cougars 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 26-24).

Zack La Cavera

BYU had set point in the third, 24-21, but UCI rallied on a kill by Kevorken, a BYU attack error and three straight blocks for the, 26-24 match victory.

Scott Kevorken

“The guys were so locked in. Eye contact was there. They had that competitive look that true competitors get. That look where the crowd and the noise and the magnitude of the moment are blurred. They saw only the next play. The way I remember it, Kevorken took over at the end of the match. He came off the court for a timeout and he scripted out the next two plays. It was a Mark Presho level of confidence. As I recall, Presh gave the nod and the boys took us home. Pretty exceptional series of moments.”

Hughes was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after recording 11 kills as did La Cavera and Tillie. Kevorken totaled 12 blocks and seven kills.

Brinkley, Tillie, Mehring and Chris Austin were named to the All-Tournament team.

The Anteaters became the first team in 17 years to win back-to-back titles and the first school in 30 years to win consecutive championships without losing a set, sweeping USC in 2012.

Tillie and Brinkley were named first team AVCA All-America and Mehring was a second team selection. Brinkley became the second UCI libero to earn All-America distinction.

Tillie and Brinkley were named to the All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation first team, while Mehring and Kevorken were named to the second team.

Head coach David Kniffin was the second coach in the 44-year history of NCAA men's volleyball to coach a team to the NCAA Championship in his first season.

UCI was the first school to win back-to-back NCAA Championships since 1995 and 1996.

UCI joined UCLA, Pepperdine and USC as the only programs to have won four titles.

UCI was ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 for 13 of 17 weeks beginning and ending the year ranked No. 1.