UC Irvine Notebook / Steve Lowery : Women’s Volleyball Team (6-0) Making a Name for Itself

There was a time when Mike Puritz not only had to tell prospective volleyball recruits where UC Irvine was, but what UC Irvine was.

“I was constantly asked if the program was Division I,” said Puritz, UCI women’s volleyball coach. “Kids from out of the area didn’t really know what I was talking about. There were even some coaches who didn’t know anything about the program.”

Of course, all that has changed after the team’s--drum roll, please--12-15 record last year. OK, so it’s not even .500, but it’s a big improvement over the 7 victories in 1986.

As Puritz attempts to build the UCI program that competes in the nation’s toughest women’s volleyball conference--The Big West--success and progress are relative.

“It’s been slow, but steady,” he said.

Consider that UCI was picked to finish last in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. in 1987--a safe assumption since the Anteaters had won just 1 conference game in 1986. Well, UCI went 5-13 and finished eighth out of 10 teams.

This season, the team won its first 6 matches. Couple that with 3 victories at the end of last season and the team had won 9 in a row, the longest streak in the program’s history.

After tonight’s (7 o’clock) match against Southern Utah State in Crawford Hall, UCI starts conference play with 8 consecutive matches against nationally ranked teams. That includes matches on Sept. 30 and Oct. 3 against Hawaii, defending NCAA champions.

Puritz is encouraged by the development of players who went through a 7-26 season 2 years ago.

“I took a big risk that season,” said Puritz, who is in his ninth season at UCI. “I started over from scratch. I had 6 freshmen and 3 sophomores on that team. They paid their dues that season.”

Getting players has always been a bit of an adventure for Puritz. Playing in the shadow of high-profile programs doesn’t make for a lot of publicity. And Puritz says it’s tough to recruit against those programs with “significantly less” to offer in the way of scholarships.

Because of those factors, Puritz leaves no possibility or project unturned.

Kris Roberts, a senior, led the team in kills last season with 317 and is the conference career leader in solo blocks with 214. Roberts was named the Big West player of the week for women’s volleyball after getting 44 kills in 4 matches last week. She leads the team with 76 kills this season.

A 6-foot 4-inch middle blocker from Irvine High School, Roberts was overlooked by a lot of schools because her coordination was poor.

“We took a chance and said, ‘Let’s see what happens,’ ” Puritz said. “She was definitely a project. But she’s a complete player now.”

Trina Vlachos, a junior, was an all-Southern Section basketball player at Ocean View High who came out for the team without a scholarship as a freshman and has worked her way into the starting lineup. Vlachos is fourth in kills with 43. Sophomore Kim Collins was a track athlete who took a volleyball class from Puritz. After seeing her athletic ability, Puritz asked her to come out for the team. Collins is third in kills with 60.

“If we could beat a couple of the big teams, I think a lot more people would know about us,” he said. “I think we can do a lot of good this year. This is the first season that I can say with a straight face that we have the chance to beat any team we play.”

Vince O’Boyle, UCI men’s and women’s cross-country coach, has been hearing all about the rebuilding he’ll have to do this season, and it seems he’s getting pretty sick of it. O’Boyle’s men’s team lost its top 2 runners--Richard Graves and Gus Quionenz--as did the women’s team--Buffy Rabbitt and Jill Herrington.

Still, during last week’s UC Riverside Invitational, both teams placed second, each running faster times than the year before. “We might not have the names that people recognize so far,” O’Boyle said. “But they’re running faster. By no means do I look at this as a rebuilding year.”

Brigid Stirling won the women’s 5,000-meter race with a time of 17:00. Stirling is a junior transfer from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Sophomore Kelli Lewis placed sixth (17:44). “Kelli ran as fast at Riverside as Jill did last year,” O’Boyle said. Herrington graduated and Rabbitt is taking a year off to study in France.

“I think we’re in a position to do it again,” O’Boyle said. “And I think when Buffy returns next year we’re in great shape.” The men’s team was led at Riverside by sophomore Aaron Mascorro, who was fifth overall at 8,000 meters with a time of 24:24.

Both teams will race Saturday at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego.

UCI notes

After 7 defeats and a tie, the UCI women’s soccer team got its first victory of the season Tuesday when it beat Westmont College, 3-0. Kacky Ovrum scored 2 goals for the Anteaters and Susan Hower had 1. Goalies Janice Taft, Racquel Speers and Alicia Miller combined for 5 saves and the shutout. UCI plays at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Saturday. . . . The UCI water polo team plays in the round-robin U.S. Air Force Tournament this weekend, after placing sixth in its tournament with a 4-3 record last weekend.