IRVINE, Calif. --- Cassidy Pickrell matched a personal-best with 25 kills and posted an impressive .377 hitting percentage (25-5-53) to lead UC Irvine to its fifth straight win with a 22-25, 25-17, 25-11, 25-18 win over Cal State Fullerton Friday at the Bren Events Center.

The outside hitter first hit the 25-kill mark last year against the Titans in a five-set match in which she recorded a .447 hitting percentage and she was one of several Anteaters to post a personal best in tonight's win. Allison Lee chipped in 11 kills and 13 digs and led the team with four aces, a single-match high for the senior. UCI dominated the match at the net, besting CSF 11-3 behind a career-best eight total blocks by Shelley Anderson, who eclipsed her previous high of four total blocks. Anderson also orchestrated the offense with 39 assists and added 11 digs for her eighth double-double match of the year. Arielle Manz had a season-high five block assists and takes over the No. 10 spot in the UCI career records with 224 block assists, passing Cindy Rohrig's (1982-85) total of 223. Arden Davis led the team with 15 digs and Ella Rosenfeld was errorless offensively, putting away six of 13 attempts for a .team-best .462 hitting percentage.

The early part of the first set was filled with unforced errors by both teams and the Titans were the first to find their rhythm, taking a 10-6 lead on a pair of UCI errors.  However, the Anteaters rallied to close the margin to one at 11-10 on a cross-court kill from Lee and then took a 13-12 lead as Pickrell powered the ball through the Titan block for a kill.  The two teams would battle until a kill by Niki Withers was followed by an attack error by Pickrell, giving CSF the 22-20 advantage. UCI used its first timeout but the Titans came out of the break with an ace from Mackenzie Olsen to go up 23-20. Pickrell delivered on back-to-back plays as UCI cut the lead to one at 23-22 before Olsen connected with Withers to give the Titans set point. Megan Kurz, who came off the bench midway through the first set, fired a cross-court kill for the game-winning point.

CSF jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the second but Lee delivered a kill and then fired a service ace to cut the deficit to two at 6-4.  The Titans held onto the two-point lead until a kill from Anderson was followed by a Titan setting error, knotting the score at 10-10. Pickrell and Lee, shouldering the bulk of the offensive responsibilities in the set, delivered on consecutive plays and Anderson posted the solo stuff on Withers for the 17-14 Anteater lead. After a kill from Pickrell, the Titans went to a timeout but Lee aced CSF to stretch the lead to five (19-14). Pickrell came up with a service winner of her own (21-15) and Manz and Victoria Dennis set back an attempt by Ally Forsberg (23-16). Anderson found Pickrell who blasted a back-row kill to give UCI set point and Dennis crushed the ball cross-court to tie the match.  

UCI was firing on all cylinders in the third, jumping out to an 11-4 lead. UCI hit .500 in the frame, committing just one error in 24 attempts while the Titans had to grapple with several unforced errors and was held to just eight kills in the set. Leading 12-5, the Anteaters reeled off six unanswered points to widen the margin to 17-6 with Manz and Lee stopping Withers at the net. The Anteater block keyed the frame with a 4-0 advantage and UCI cruised to a 25-11 win on an attack error by Crenshaw.

The two teams traded points in the fourth until Pickrell and Lee sandwiched an attack error by Crenshaw with a pair of kills as UCI pulled ahead 12-9. Anderson and Rosenfeld synced up on a CSF attack attempt and Anderson delivered a solo block on the next play to give the Anteaters an 18-12 lead. Rosenfeld tucked an Anderson assist inside the backline (20-14). The Titans never threatened and Pickrell, who used a variety of shots all night, put away the match with a tip over the Fullerton block.  

UCI travels to San Diego State Monday night for a non-conference match at 6:00 p.m.