Los Angeles, Calif. – No. 2 UC Irvine won an epic 3-2 (25-22, 23-25, 25-18, 25-27, 15-13) battle over No. 1 UCLA at the John Wooden Center Saturday.
UCI wins its seventh straight and improves to 16-3 overall and 12-3 in the MPSF. UCLA loses its first home match of the year (7-1) and goes to 18-3 on the year and 12-2 in the MPSF.
Junior outside hitter Kevin Tillie and senior opposite Carson Clark each had 21 kills and four aces to lead the Anteaters. Middle blocker Dan McDonnell had eight kills and three block assists, while libero Michael Brinkley posted a career-high 14 digs. Jeremy Dejno and Scott Kevorken recorded six kills apiece and setter Chris Austin matched his career-high with 56 set assists and fired two aces. Outside hitter Connor Hughes came off the bench to add four kills and five digs.
UCLA was led by Jeremy Casebeer with 12 kills followed by Thomas Amberg and Gonzalo Quiroga with 11 kills each.
UCLA led 18-16 in the first set before UCI scored four straight, the first three UCLA errors and the last a Carson Clark kill to put the Anteaters ahead 20-18. UCI would extend a 21-20 lead to 23-20 on a kill by Dejno and an ace by Clark. UCI would win the set 25-22 on a Bruin service error.
In a closely contested second set, UCLA would get two kills to take a 23-21 lead and go on to win the set 25-23.
With the score tied 3-3 in the third set, UCI had two kills by Tillie and one by Dan McDonnell to open a 6-3 advantage. Back to back kills by Clark pushed the margin to 9-5 and another Clark ace put UCI ahead 13-6. The Bruins responded scoring the next four points to close within 13-10. UCI continued to lead 15-12 before the Anteaters went on a 5-1 run to put the set out of reach, 20-13. UCI won 25-18.
On the strength of three Bruin blocks UCLA held a 9-6 lead in the fourth set. The Bruins led 19-16 when UCI used a UCLA service error, a kill by Connor Hughes, and a Bruin attack error to knot the score at 19-19. A block McDonnell gave UCI the 20-19 lead before a UCI service and attack error put UCLA back on top 21-20. A kill by Kyle Caldwell and a Bruin block gave UCLA the 23-21 advantage until a pair of Clark kills and a service ace gave UCI the 24-23 lead. Clark had a service error before the teams traded blocks to deadlock at 25-25. UCLA scored the final two points to force a fifth set, 27-25.
Two Tillie kills and a Bruin attack error gave UCI the 13-10 advantage in the final set. A UCLA kill narrowed the UCI lead to 14-13 before Tillie put away the game and match winner, 15-13.
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