2012 NCAA Men's Final: UCI vs. USC

Shakespeare wrote, "What's past is prologue." That turned out most decisively not to be a useful frame to view last night's NCAA men's final between UC Irvine and USC.

As shown in yesterday's preview in the posting immediately below the current one, the Anteaters' Carson Clark had given no recent indication he could dominate the national championship match. In his two prior matches against the Trojans (in the teams' second meeting of the conference season and in the conference tournament), Clark had hit .204 and .103, respectively. And in Thursday night's NCAA semifinal vs Penn State, Clark's hitting percentage was .179.

However, the senior opposite (right-side) hitter may as well have been wearing a cape and an "S" across his chest last night vs. USC. As described in UCI's championship-match article, "Senior All-American Carson Clark had a match-high 22 kills, hitting .465, and added eight digs and three service aces as UCI (26-5) topped the Trojans for the second time in nine days."

Clark's .465 hitting percentage came on 22 kills with only 2 errors, on 43 spike attempts. Though set more sparingly, Dan McDonnell (.571, 5-1-7) and Connor Hughes (.357, 13-3-28) also posted fine hitting nights for UCI. The Anteaters' Kevin Tillie, who came in on fire, hit only .100 (11-8-30). Chris Austin, a mid-season replacement at setter, not only orchestrated the Irvine offense to a .320 team hitting percentage (with 'SC registering only 7 team blocks), but led the team by a wide margin with 15 digs. With Austin getting so many digs, other players had to set the hitters some of the time and, as a sign of the Anteaters' versatility, five players other than Austin recorded at least 1 assist.

The Trojans' go-to guy, outside hitter Tony Ciarelli, hit a respectable .289 for the match (18-5-45), but was held to only a single service ace (USC's only one of the match). Opposite hitter Tanner Jansen provided unexpected offensive spark, hitting .500 (10-1-18), and steady middle blocker Steven Shandrick chimed in with a .333 evening (6-1-15).