‘Eaters’ fate on hold

The regular-season finale against visiting Long Beach State on Saturday mirrored the UC Irvine men’s volleyball season.

The Anteaters leaned vehemently against adversity and even had moments of mastery, only to be knocked to the floor, 22-25, 25-19, 25-22, 13-25, 15-7, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match in front of 1,303 at the Bren Events Center.

Still, the Anteaters (10-19, 7-15 in conference) may get a chance to rise once again. If Hawaii topped visiting Cal Baptist in a match that began at 10 p.m. PT on Saturday, UCI would earn the final berth in the eight-team MPSF Tournament.

But a Cal Baptist win would end the season for a UCI program that opened the year ranked No. 2 in the nation after reaching the NCAA Tournament semifinals in 2015.

The No. 15-ranked Anteaters, who have battled injuries, position changes and, frankly, some disappointing play, were dominant in the fourth set, when senior outside hitter Kyle Russell thumped seven of his 13 kills after opening the match on the bench.

But freshman TJ DeFalco opened the deciding set with an ace for the No. 5-ranked visitors (23-6, 17-5) and added four of his match-high 24 kills the rest of the way to help the 49ers extend the lead and finish.

UCI Coach David Kniffin was unprepared to discuss a potential finish for the 2016 ‘Eaters, who endured the program’s first losing season since 2005. Instead, Kniffin chose to remain positive about his team’s postseason hopes.

“I believe we’re going to be in the [MPSF] tournament and I believe we’re going to make some noise,” said Kniffin, whose team, if it did qualify, would meet regular-season champion BYU (23-3, 19-3) in a quarterfinal match Saturday in Provo, Utah.

“I think we’ve demonstrated at various points throughout the year that we’re a dangerous team,” Kniffin said. “I think in the last several matches, starting in Hawaii [two five-set losses on March 25 and 26] we showed our team is really starting to turn into a different gear.”

Part of that resurgence had been the return of junior All-American outside hitter Tamir Hershko, who made his second start Saturday in his third appearance after missing 18 matches with a leg injury. But Hershko hit negative .050 with six kills on 20 attempts against the 49ers, and was benched for good late in the third set.

Russell hit .330 on 26 swings, and junior Michael Saeta, who began the season as the team’s setter, led UCI with 14 kills at opposite. Saeta hit .135 as the hosts hit .212 as a team, including negative .091 in the fifth set.

Senior middle blockers Jason Agopian (nine kills, .467) and Marty Ross (eight kills, .533) were easily the best offensive options for freshman setter Dante Chakravorti (44 assists).

Six different ‘Eaters had one ace apiece to give them a 6-4 advantage in that department, but the 49ers, who hit .700 in the fifth set (eight kills on 10 swings with one error) had all three team blocks in the fifth set to finish tied in that department, 9-5-9.5.

Kyle Ensing, a 49ers freshman opposite, had 14 kills, while freshman setter Josh Tuaniga, a teammate of DeFalco at Huntington Beach High, had 46 assists and shared the team lead with seven digs.

Ross had five block assists to lead UCI, for which Saeta had 10 digs, followed by junior Thomas Hodges’ eight.

UCI may look back with regret on Game 2, in which it led, 12-6, before allowing Long Beach to even the match.

UCI never led in the third set, but stormed back in Game 4.

Yet even with three freshman starters, the 49ers were bigger in the biggest moments.

“We work a lot [in practice] on the ability to play under physical stress,” Long Beach State and former Team USA Coach Alan Knipe said. “I think our guys have bought into loving the grind in those moments. They are a young group, but they are not necessarily an inexperienced volleyball group.”

Knipe said any team that might have to face UCI would hardly savor the experience.

“Irvine has been a different team from week to week and month to month, for all sorts of reasons,” Knipe said. “Some of those reasons I think I know and some I have no idea. But with the arms they have, they are a dangerous team for anybody to play, I don’t care who they are playing.”