Irvine, Calif. – No. 2 UC Irvine rallied from two sets down to beat UC San Diego, 3-2 (23-25, 21-25, 25-13, 25-21, 15-10) at the Bren Events Center Sunday.
The Anteaters improve to 18-6 overall and 15-6 in the MPSF, while UCSD falls to 7-18 overall and 4-16 in the MPSF.
Junior outside hitter Connor Hughes recorded a season-high 17 kills, eight digs and three blocks. Middle blocker Scott Kevorken also had a season-high in kills with 11, hitting .846 (11-0-13) and recorded a match-best eight total blocks. Outside hitter Kevin Tillie totaled nine kills and a match-high 15 digs in four sets. Middle blocker Collin Mehring added nine kills, while setter Daniel Stork tallied 48 set assists, five digs and five total blocks. Libero Will Thomas posted a season-high eight digs and opposite Zack La Cavera had seven kills, five digs and three blocks in the final three sets.
UCSD was led by Carl Eberts with 12 kills followed by Nick Iorfino with 10. Cheyene Hayes had nine kills, nine digs and six block assists, while Greg Smith recorded nine kills and seven block assists.
In the first set, UC San Diego went on a 4-1 run to take the 14-10 lead. UCI would return the favor, scoring the next five on two Triton errors, an ace by Connor Hughes and kills by Kyle Russell and Scott Kevorken to go ahead 15-14. UCI led 18-17 before UCSD had a kill by Sebastian Brady, a UCI setting error, a block and an ace that trickled over the net to put the Tritons back on top 20-18. UCSD continued led 22-20 before a Triton service error and a block by Kevorken and Hughes knotted the score at 22-22. San Diego would score the next two points on a kill by Nick Iorfino and a UCI attack that went wide. Following a UCI kill, a block by Greg Smith and Mike Brunsting would win the set 25-23 for UC San Diego.
UCI jumped out to a 5-2 lead but the Tritons quickly went ahead 7-6. UCSD would score five in a row, the last three on blocks to extend the lead to 14-9. San Diego would not relinquish the lead and win the set 25-21.
The Anteaters took control of the second set with a 10-3 lead behind the serving of Zack La Cavera who entered the match at the beginning of the game. UCI used a balanced offensive attack with four kills by Hughes, two each by Kevorken, Mehring and Kevin Tillie and one by La Cavera combined with six blocks to win the set 25-13.
UCI continued the momentum in the fourth set, recording three consecutive blocks by Kevorken and Daniel Stork to start with a 7-4 advantage. The Tritons would try to rally late closing to 22-19 on two UCI attack errors before La Cavera hit a ball off the block to stop the streak. A block by Kevoken and La Cavera ended the set 25-21.
San Diego used back-to-back kills by Carl Eberts and a block to take a 7-4 lead in the final set. That was followed by a kill by Tillie, a UCSD setting error and a block by Mehring and Stork to tie it at 7-7. UCSD would score two, 9-7 and UCI would then score the next five, one a block by Mehring and La Cavera, for the 12-9 advantage. Three straight Mehring kills gave the Anteaters the win 15-10.
UCI will host Stanford Friday (Apr. 5) in the Bren Center then Pacific on Saturday (Apr. 6) in Crawford Court. Both matches begin at 7:00 p.m.
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