UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK / MIKE REILLEY : New Starting Position Setting Well With Sepic

Secure with experience, Vesna Sepic can now laugh about her debut two years ago as the starting setter on the UC Irvine women’s volleyball team.

Sepic, then a sophomore, was playing right-side hitter. She had had little, if any, setting experience since graduating from Alameda High.

But when the Anteaters’ starting setter went out with cramps just before the match, Coach Mike Puritz turned to Sepic to fill in.

“We were playing at Hawaii, of all places,” Sepic said. “I found out I was moving to setter about a half hour before the match.”

She ran the offense as best she could, trying not to let her teammates down in a tough situation.

“It was pretty nerve-racking out there,” she said. “But everyone on the team was supportive. We lost, but we didn’t play badly.”

In fact, Sepic played well enough to land the starting setter’s job for the rest of the season. Last year, she moved into second place on the school’s all-time assist chart with 1,301.

Saturday, she tied a single-match school record with 66 assists in a five-game victory over Oregon at the Anteater Invitational. She helped Irvine to a 2-1 record and a second-place finish behind Loyola Marymount.

Puritz said Sepic, a 5-foot-9 senior, has been “setting more consistently than ever before.”

“We really didn’t start training her as a setter until her sophomore year,” Puritz said. “Last year was her first full season at that position, and that’s why it has taken her a little longer to pick up certain things.”

A setter’s role is comparable to that of a quarterback. Setters run the offense, and usually are vocal leaders. Although Sepic’s setting skills are solid, Puritz wants her to be more vocal.

“We would like Vesna to talk a little more, to be more assertive out there,” Puritz said. “Her quiet nature makes her just get the job done.”

Said Sepic: “That’s something Coach and I disagree on. I’m very quiet, but when I say something, I mean it. I don’t like a lot of chatter. I like productive things.”

Sepic thinks this year’s team should have a productive offense, with plenty of good hitters for her to set the ball to.

Outside hitter Popi Edwards, who led the team in kills as a freshman, is back, along with senior middle blocker Jessica Perkins and senior outside hitter Alison Bantel. Transfers Stacy Mitchell (College of the Sequoias) and Michele Tupta (North Carolina Charlotte), should figure prominently in the offense, as well as freshmen Brandy Smerko (Valencia High) and Jennifer Dunn (Westlake High).

“Having a lot of hitters makes my job a ton easier,” Sepic said. “I have a lot more options. And no matter where I put the ball, something good is going to happen.”

How good will Irvine be?

The Anteaters were 15-13 last season and just missed qualifying for the NCAA tournament.

This season, Big West coaches picked the Anteaters sixth in the conference behind top-rated Pacific, Cal State Long Beach, UC Santa Barbara, Hawaii and San Jose State.

*

Add volleyball: Irvine outside hitters Mitchell and Bantel were named to the all-tournament team along with Oregon middle blocker Karissa Meith, who played at Irvine High.

Julie Greer, a former Esperanza High standout, had 17 kills for Loyola Marymount in the four-game victory over Irvine in the finals.

*

Mission accomplished: Dan Augulis is returning to the men’s basketball team after a two-year Mormon mission in Romania.

Augulis, 6-10 and 210 pounds, was recruited by former Anteater Coach Bill Mulligan and was a redshirt the 1990-91 season. He will be a freshman eligibility-wise.

Augulis averaged 11 points and eight rebounds during his senior season at Shawnee Mission South High in Overland Park, Kan. He helped South to a 24-0 record and the Kansas 6-A State title.