UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK : Despite Losing Record, Felton Learns to Let Good Times Roll

James Felton knew perfectly well what he was getting into when he came to UC Irvine to play volleyball. The losses would outnumber the victories, respect would be hard to come by and expectations would be next to nil.

Little has changed in Felton’s four seasons as an outside hitter at Irvine, but he won’t complain. He could have tried it another way, and sometimes he’s wondered what it would have been like to play at such national powerhouses as Cal State Long Beach, UCLA or USC.

Those thoughts don’t last long, though. There have been plenty of good times, if not victories at Irvine.

Such as?

“I’ll always remember playing San Diego State on TV two years ago,” said Felton, a senior from Pasadena La Salle High School. “We came so close to winning. And watching it on (tape delay) later, that will always stay with me.”

He’ll also remember individual battles--the small victories against some of the best collegiate players in the world.

The win-loss records, he can do without.

This has been fairly typical of recent seasons for Irvine, which has a 3-5 record and is ranked No. 16 nationally going into a Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. match against UC Santa Barbara Saturday at Crawford Hall.

The Anteaters blast many of the nonconference teams they play, but get blasted by most WIVA teams. There is no conference, in any NCAA sport, tougher than the WIVA. Imagine the top teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big East, Big Eight and Big Ten playing in one college basketball superconference and you get an idea of what the WIVA is like.

Besides, the chance to play against the best is what attracted Felton to Irvine in the first place.

He had other offers, including one from George Mason in Fairfax, Va., and another from Long Beach, but liked what he heard from Coach Bill Ashen at Irvine.

Plus, he was assured of steady playing time, which might not have been the case at another WIVA school.

“I don’t know what it would have been like to go to another school, but I know I like where I am now,” Felton said. “I’m glad I didn’t go to George Mason. Obviously at Long Beach I would have won a national championship.

“(But) I’m sure I wouldn’t have played as much. I’m sure I wouldn’t have the friends I have now and had the fun we had playing together.”

Each season has meant something different to Felton.

Now, he’s the team captain, which has brought added responsibility.

“He has a calming effect on the players,” Ashen said. “They trust his judgment. We’re a much better team when he’s on the court.”

Before this season, there always seemed to be more experienced and more mature players than Felton on Irvine’s side of the net. In the past, he could speak his mind at the net or rant and rave when things weren’t going the Anteaters’ way, but no more.

“I’ve had to be the calm one out there, (the one to say), ‘No yelling, no negative attitudes,’ ” Felton said.

He’s also had to deal with his own physical limitations. Torn shoulder muscles and a hyperextended elbow have sidelined him for two matches and limited him to back row-only duty in another.

The injuries are frustrating because they have further limited his chances of knocking off a top-ranked team.

“There are teams like USC and UCLA that I still want to beat before my career is up,” he said. “Now, it may not happen.”

But Felton always knew it could be that way.

Rod Baker, the men’s basketball coach, has heard all the stories, but now he’s about to experience the Thunderdome--as UC Santa Barbara’s 6,000-seat Campus Events Center is known--for himself.

Frankly, he said he’s not all that concerned.

“In normal buildings, it’s not difficult to play,” Baker said. “It’s difficult to play in the Carrier Dome (Syracuse’s 30,000-plus seat arena) because of the building, but not because it’s the other team’s home floor.

“Noise is noise. Big time players don’t differentiate between boos and yeas.”

Baker should know, having conquered such notoriously loud arenas as the Carrier Dome and the Palestra in Philadelphia (I can’t imagine a place louder than that,” he said) as a player and coach in the East.

He said he’ll give a full report after Thursday’s game against Santa Barbara.

Stat of the week: The men’s basketball team is 1-8 on the road this season and 4-20 over the past three seasons.

Track and field: The men’s and women’s teams, rained out in last week’s tri-meet with Cal Poly Pomona and UC San Diego, open the season at the Long Beach Relays Saturday at Cal State Long Beach.

The Pomona-UCSD meet will not be rescheduled.

Anteater Notes

Charlie Schober was named the Big West Conference men’s swimming coach of the year after leading the Anteaters to third place in the conference finals last week. . . . The sailing team finished fourth in the College of Charleston Spring Invitational Sunday on the Ashley River in Charleston, S.C. Charleston, which will play host to the national championships later this year, won with 146 points, followed by Tulane (151), Tufts (160) and Irvine (161).. . . Last Wednesday’s rained-out baseball game against Cal Poly Pomona will be made up at 2:30 p.m. Friday on Anteater Field. Makeup dates for rained-out games against Cal State Northridge have not yet been announced. . . . David Bladow, a senior right-hander, improved his record to 3-0 after a 4-1 victory over Northridge Friday. He was only 5-7 last season.