Irvine, Calif. – No. 1 UCLA beat No. 8 UC Irvine 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 25-18) at the Bren Center Saturday.

UC Irvine (6-6, 3-5) was led by senior Connor Hughes with 13 kills, seven digs and three aces and junior Zack La Cavera with 12 kills, six digs and two aces. Middle blocker Scott Kevorken posted seven kills and four block assists. Outside hitter Kyle Russell came off the bench to add six kills in three sets. Freshman Michael Saeta recorded 28 set assists and junior libero Michael Brinkley had seven digs.

The Bruins (9-1, 6-0) were led by Robart Page with 16 kills and Gonzalo Quiroga with 15 kills and 12 digs. The Bruins out-blocked (10-8), out-dug (39-31) and out-hit .295-.229 the Anteaters.

UCLA used a 4-0 run in the first set to open a 20-16 advantage and go on to win the opening game, 25-19.

UCLA went up 15-12 in the second set before UCI used a kill and ace by Connor Hughes followed by a block by Collin Mehring and Jeremy Dejno to knot the score at 15-15. Three straight Bruin kills pushed UCLA back in to the lead 18-15. A pair of Gonzalo Quiroga aces stretched the UCLA lead to 21-16. Two Bruin attack errors narrowed the Anteater deficit to 24-21 before a UCI service error gave the Bruins the 25-21 victory.

In the third set,  Zack La Cavera kill gave UCI the 15-12 advantage before UCLA scored three in a row to tie it up at 15-15. The Anteaters had kills by Hughes and La Cavera followed by an ace by Hughes and a kill by Kyle Russell to take a 19-15 advantage.. A UCLA service error would give UCI the set 25-20.

The fourth set was all UCLA as they jumped out to a 9-3 lead and never looked back winning the set 25-18.

UCI will travel to Pacific next Friday (Feb. 7) at 7:00 p.m.

 

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