Clark, Dejno pound Anteaters past Bruins for UCSB Invite title

UC Irvine’s outside attackers lived up to the preseason hype and lifted the No. 2 Anteaters to the UC Santa Barbara Invitational championship.

All three of the Anteaters starting outside attackers had more than 10 kills as UC Irvine defeated No. 3 UCLA 23-25, 25-21, 35-33, 25-18 in the UC Santa Barbara Invitational championship match on Saturday.

Outside attacker Carson Clark, an Off the Block Preseason All-American, had a match-high 17 kills. Clark was an All-Tournament selection and had 50 attack attempts against UCLA — 19 more attempts than any other player in the match.

In addition, senior outside attacker Kevin Carroll had 14 kills, while sophomore outside attacker Jeremy Dejno added 16 kills in the victory.

Dejno was also named the Tournament MVP. The sophomore had a team-high 4.38 kills per game average during the Anteaters’ three tournament matches.

UC Irvine out-hit UCLA .343 to .242, including having a .429 attack percentage in the four-point second game victory.

Outside attacker Jeremy Casebeer led UCLA (2-1) with 13 kills in the loss.

UC Irvine (4-0) advanced to the championship match after defeating No. 1 BYU and No. 8 Long Beach State in the first two rounds of the UC Santa Barbara Invitational on Friday.