SANTA BARABRA, Calif. – No. 6 UC Irvine kicked off the 2026 season with a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-16, 25-13) of Harvard at the Asics Invitational at Rob Gym on the campus of UC Santa Barbara.

The Anteaters dominated the net, out-blocking the Crimson 11-3. UCI hit .379 (36-11-66) and held Harvard to a .055 mark (19-15-73).

Newcomers Andrej Jokanovic and Trevor Clark played big roles in the win. Jokanovic, a freshman outside hitter, had a match-high 13 kills, hitting .429 with a match-best eight digs and two aces.  Clark, a junior middle blocker, hit 857 (6-0-7) with a match-best seven total blocks (3 solo).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Junior Andon Kiriakou and middle blocker Micah Goss each added six kills. Kiriakou was one shy of his career-high with seven digs, while Goss added four block assists
>Libero Shane Aitken matched Jokanovic with a match-best eight digs
>Setter Aidan Rigg posted 15 set assists, four digs, a block assist, kill and two aces
>Redshirt freshman Cameron Kosty had 11 set assists, two kills, two digs and a block assist
>William D'Arcy totaled four block assists to tie his career-high
> UCI held a 33-15 dig and 6-1 ace advantage
>Harvard was led by Nicolas  Sawyer's six kills

FIRST SET
>UCI started with the first four points, a kill by Trevor Clark, a block by Micah Goss and Aidan Rigg, a kill by Andrej Jokanovic and a Harvard error
>Two more Crimson errors stretched the lead to 6-1
>Kills by Goss, Jokanovic and Cameron Kosty plus an ace by Rigg gave the Anteaters an 18-8 advantage
>Goss put away the set winner, 25-17

SECOND SET
>Two UCI errors and a kill moved Harvard out to a 7-4 lead
>UCI scored four in a row to go ahead 12-10 on an ace by Clark
>After the Crimson tied the set at 12s, UCI exploded on a 9-2 run which included back-to-back aces by Jokanovic, 21-14
>UCI ended the set on a block by William D'Arcy and Clark, 25-16

THIRD SET
>UCI made its move with a pair of Jokanovic kills around a Clark solo block
>Kills by Andon Kiriakou and Goss gave UCI a 15-8 lead
>UCI scored six straight, including two blocks assisted by D'Arcy and an ace by Aidan Schulten
>Jokanovic ended the match with a kill, 25-13

NOTES
>Jokanovic, Clark, Kosty and Micah Tumas all made their Anteater debut
>Four different UCI players logged an ace and six recorded a block
>UCI goes to 2-0 all-time against Harvard

UP NEXT
UCI returns to action tomorrow, facing Kentucky State at 7:00 p.m.