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The Anteater alumni got the better of this year’s UC Irvine team.
Quiksilver, a club team that included three former UC Irvine players, swept UC Irvine 25-23, 25-23, 25-22 in the fifth-place semifinals match Friday at the Irvine International Volleyball Tournament.
Former Anteater All-American Jon Steller and Paul Spittle, a member of the UC Irvine 2006 Final Four team, both had late-game kills to help defeat their alma mater.
Steller in the opening game had a kill and an ace on back-to-back plays to give Quiksilver (1-3) a 23-22 lead. In addition, Spittle had the game-winning kill in the second game.
Along with Steller and Spittle, UC Irvine alumnus Taylor Wilson played for Quiksilver against the Anteaters.
With this loss, UC Irvine (1-3) extends its losing streak to three matches at its home preseason tournament.
The Irvine International Volleyball Tournament is a weeklong eight-team preseason tournament. It also is the only tournament that matches up a college men’s volleyball team against professional teams from around the world.
The Anteaters will play Beijing in the seventh-place match on Saturday. UC Irvine defeated Beijing in four games in its pool-play opener earlier this week.
Quiksilver will play Shanghai, which won its semifinals match Friday, in the fifth-place match Saturday.
Both matches along with the third-place and championship matches will be live streamed at livestream.com/iivbt