THE COLLEGES : UC Irvine Notebook / John Weyler : Making Some Inroads in Volleyball

When you play women’s volleyball in the Big West Conference, you have to adjust your expectations accordingly. The conference actually is having an off year, but there are still six Big West schools among the nation’s top 20.

When it comes time for the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. playoffs, only eight teams from each region--the West, Northwest, Midwest and South--get berths. The Big West, which includes perennial powerhouses Hawaii and University of the Pacific, is in the Northwest region.

Hawaii is No. 3 in the nation. Cal State Long Beach is No. 8. Pacific is down to 12th this year. San Diego State is 14th, San Jose State is 17th and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is 20th.

All are Big West members.

But UC Irvine, a perennial Big West also-ran, has quietly slipped into a position where it could sneak away with the school’s first NCAA berth. The Anteaters (17-10) have beaten Cal Poly SLO twice, upset San Jose State in San Jose last week and defeated San Diego State on Friday.

“Making the NCAAs was our goal this year. . . . Well, it’s always our goal, but this year it was a realistic goal,” Coach Mike Puritz said.

The Anteaters’ victory over SDSU could be enough to carry them to an NCAA bid--as long as they beat Fresno State Thursday night--even if they lose to UC Santa Barbara Nov. 19.

Irvine’s ascension in the volleyball ranks has been rapid--the Anteaters were 19-31 over the last 2 seasons--but it hasn’t come as a surprise to Puritz.

“In my mind, it’s a clear-cut case of maturity,” Puritz said. “Two years ago, we started over with six freshmen and three sophomores. We weren’t a good team then, but I really believed we had players who could make us a good team one day.”

Led by the hitting of senior Kris Roberts and the steady setting of senior Ann Warmus, the Anteaters’ day may be at hand.

“It took a lot of patience on both of our parts,” Puritz said. “The players hung in there. And all the time I was pumping into them that their time would come.”

The team’s physical talents have been improved and refined during the past 2 years, but one of the biggest differences this season has been Irvine’s mental state.

“We’re no longer awed by the teams in this conference,” Puritz said. “We step on the court with the feeling we belong in the match. And we’ve shown the confidence and poise to pull through the tough situations.”

The upset of San Jose State, which was ranked 15th in the country at the time, is a good example of the Anteaters’ poise.

They let a lead slip away and lost the first game, 15-11. They didn’t play well in the second game and lost, 15-8. But they rallied to win the third game, 15-12, and maintained the momentum in game No. 4, taking an 8-0 lead before rolling to a 15-5 victory.

Then they swept the Spartans aside in the fifth game, 15-1.

“I don’t want to start looking ahead,” Puritz said, “because first we have to get there. But if we do make it to the NCAAs, it’s not going to be, ‘Well, now we made it, let’s pack and go home.’

“There’s 32 teams in the first round and you have to win five matches to win the national championship. There’s always a chance. Look at the Dodgers. . . .”

The men’s basketball team will play exhibition game No. 2 at 7:30 tonight when the Anteaters play host to the Czechoslovakian national team in the Bren Center.

Guard Kevin Floyd led the Anteaters with 26 points against AIA. Guard Rod Palmer and forward Mike Labat scored 24 each.

Anteater Notes

Coach Bill Mulligan said a couple of weeks ago that he was “99% sure” he would allow sophomore guard Justin Anderson to redshirt this season. Look out for that 1%. “I un-redshirted his (behind) yesterday,” Mulligan said Thursday. “How do I know where I’ll be in 3 or 4 years?” After watching Irvine’s 133-131 exhibition loss to Athletes in Action Tuesday night, Mulligan figured the Anteaters’ couldn’t afford to go without Anderson’s outside shooting. Anderson made 38 of 92 attempts from 3-point range as a freshman. . . . Freshman forward Etop Udo-Ema, from Chaparral High School in Phoenix, was not eligible to play in Tuesday night’s exhibition because transcripts of a summer school class he took have yet to reach Irvine. “It’s not like he’s going to be (academically) ineligible,” said Kaia Hedlund, Irvine’s associate athletic director for student affairs. “He just can’t play until we get our hands on the transcript.” . . . Former Irvine star Wayne Engelstad, now a member of the Denver Nuggets, and teammate Alex English arrived in Southern California a day ahead of the rest of the Nuggets Tuesday. Engelstad attended Irvine’s exhibition against AIA, and English went a bit farther down the freeway to see Michael Jackson at Irvine Meadows.

Center Ricky Butler, who is listed at 6-feet 7-inches and 260 pounds but might push the needle on the scale close to 300, has been working on losing weight so he can keep up with Irvine’s fast-paced style. Mulligan: “He comes up to me and says, with a totally straight face, ‘I’m trying, Coach. I’m down to three meals a day.’ ”