Irvine, Calif. – No. 6 UC Irvine rallied, but could not hold on as No. 4 Stanford won 3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-13) at the Bren Center Friday.
UCI goes to 17-10 overall and 14-9 in the MPSF. With the loss, UCI will go on the road for the quarterfinals. Seeding and the Anteaters' opponent is still to be determined following Saturday night's action. The Cardinal win their 10th straight match and improve to 19-7 overall and 16-7 in the MPSF, solidifying a quarterfinal home match for the MPSF Tournament.
UCI was led by outside hitter Jeremy Denjo with 17 kills followed by outside hitter Connor Hughes with 14 kills and 10 digs. Middle blocker Scott Kevorken totaled 10 kills and a match-high five total blocks, while opposite Zack La Cavera added seven kills and seven digs in four sets. Middle blocker Collin Mehring hit .750 with six kills on eight attempts and no errors. Setter Daniel Stork tallied 49 set assists and libero Michael Brinkley posted a team-best 11 digs.
UCI out-hit (.269-.256) and out-dug (50-45) Stanford, but the Cardinal had more blocks (10.5-7). Each team had five aces.
Brian Cook led Stanford with a match-high 18 kills. Steven Irvin recorded 15 kills and a match-high 13 digs. Conrad Kaminski and Eric Mochalski each had nine kills in the win. James Shaw totaled 45 set assists, two aces and 10 digs.
UCI held a 14-7 lead in the first before the Cardinal scored five straight to narrow the Anteater advantage to 14-12. Stanford would use an Anteater attack to tie the set at 18-18 then had a UCI service error and a kill by Daniel Tublin to take a 20-19 lead. Stanford would score three in a row to go in front 23-20 and after a service error, the Cardinal had a kill and an ace by Steven Irvin to win the set 25-21. The Anteaters hit .172 (11-6-29).
Stanford opened a 10-4 lead, but the Anteaters went on a 9-3 run behind the serving of Travis Woloson to knot the score at 13-13. With the score tied 17-17, UCI recorded kills by Scott Kevorken and Connor Hughes to lead 19-17. The Anteaters would not trail again as Dejno put away a kill to win the set 25-21. Opposite Zack La Cavera came off the bench to spark UCI, hitting .800 with four kills on five attempts. Dejno had six kills in the set to lead the Anteaters.
Stanford made its move in the third set on back-to-back kills by Brian Cook to take a 19-17 lead. A Cardinal block gave Stanford the 25-21 victory. UCI hit .414 to Stanford's .367, but the Anteaters committed five service errors in the set.
UCI gained a 13-10 lead on a Stanford service error and kill by Kevorken. The Anteaters pulled away 22-16 on a Dejno kill and two Stanford errors. Dejno ended the set with a kill, 25-19. Serving was a problem for Stanford in the fourth set as the Cardinal had six service errors. Neither team was offensively productive as UCI hit .136 (7-4-22) and Stanford hit .080 (7-5-25).
Tiny runs defined the final set as Stanford took an 8-6 lead on a UCI service error and a kill by Cook. UCI would score the next two to tie the score at 8-8, but Stanford scored the next two to jump in front 10-8. UCI rallied on a kill by Connor Hughes and a Stanford attack error to tie the set at 12-12. Each team would commit an error before Stanford had a kill by Irvin and a block to end the set, 15-13 and the match 3-2.
UCI closes out the regular season hosting Pacific at 7:00 p.m. in the Bren Center. UCI will honor its five seniors following the match.
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