Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine (8-4) had to shake off the road dust in its home opener against American but came out with a 17-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-21 victory to hand the Eagles (10-1) their first loss of the year Friday at the Bren Events Center.

UCI's tough serving was a key factor as the Anteaters out-aced the Eagles, 10-3, with Aly Squires, Shannon Fleming and Marisa Bubica each firing two apiece. Allison Lee was inserted into the match late into the first set gave the team a boost with 15 kills, a match-high. Squires added 13 kills while Arden Davis topped all players with a career-high 26 digs. Shelley Anderson totaled 40 assists in the win, just missing a double-double with nine digs.

UCI got off to a slow start in the first frame, falling behind 6-1 as the Eagles hit .500. The Anteaters rallied to close the gap to three at 16-13 as Arielle Manz and Marisa Bubica stuffed Kristyna Lindovska at the net but would come no closer. American answered with back-to-back points and would go on to win 25-17.

The second proved to be much tighter with UCI hitting .333 and American posting a .308 clip. Battling nine ties and six lead changes, the Anteaters edged ahead at 18-18, reeling off five straight points to grab a 23-18 advantage and Anderson went to Squires to tie the match.

UCI sped out to an 11-2 advantage in the third and never looked back. The Eagles rallied with a five-point run to shrink the deficit to three at 17-14. Consecutive kills from Squires and Lee extended the margin to five (19-14) but American answered again by scoring three straight (20-18). The Eagles came as close two again at 23-2 on the solo block on Anderson but Lee and Squires delivered on back-to-back plays to close out the set.

American's block factored early in the final set as the Eagles put up blocks on consecutive plays. An attack error by Bubica followed and a kill by Juliana Crum put the Anteaters down 6-2. However, Bubica sparked a UCI run with a pair of aces and the Anteater block returned the favor as Shannon Fleming and Anderson stuffed Crum twice to tie the score at 10-10. Two unforced Eagle errors staked UCI to three-point lead (16-13) but American knotted the score again at 17 points apiece. The two sides traded points before UCI would take the lead for good at 19-18 on a bad set by Smidova. Anderson went to Squires to give UCI match point and the outside hitter's cross-court smash would seal the win.

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