Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ALBUQUERQUE, NM ---UC Irvine hit a season-high .390, sweeping Montana State 25-16, 25-12, 25-16 Saturday morning at the MCM Elegante Lobo Invitational. It is the second consecutive match the Anteaters have hit better than .300 and third time overall this season as the team improves to 6-3 on the year.

Allison Lee and Marisa Bubica paced the Anteater attack with 13 and 11 kills, respectively with Lee hitting .444 with just one error. Bubica belted the ball at a .368 clip while Cassidy Pickrell put together an errorless match, converting on nine of 24 attempts for a .375 percentage to go along with 10 digs and three blocks. Ella Rosenfeld knocked down six of 10 tries with a lone error for a .500 hitting percentage and posted three block assists. Shelley Anderson dished out 34 assists and totaled six kills while Arden Davis boasted a match-leading 17 digs with Molly Yoder scooping up 10.    

Montana State edged ahead early in the match, taking a 9-7 lead on a kill from Loni Kreun but trailing 10-9, the Anteaters reeled off four unanswered points to turn the set in their favor with a 13-10 lead.  Davis went to Bubica, who put the ball away to stretch the lead to four (17-13). Kreun committed consecutive unforced errors (20-14) and UCI took advantage with kills from Anderson and Ella Rosenfeld (22-15). Pickrell denied Eli Svisco at the net for set point and the sophomore then paired up with Rosenfeld to stuff Svisco again to close the frame.  

UC Irvine took a commanding 12-3 lead in the second on back-to-back kills from Anderson. The Anteaters, hitting .312 in the frame, capitalized on an .057 hitting percentage from Montana State. The lead stretched to 10 on a kill by Bubica and the Anteaters never looked back with Lee putting away the decisive point in the frame. 

UCI wasted no time in the third, scoring the first four points to open the set with a pair of kills from Bubica sparking the run. Lee delivered on two straight plays for the 6-1 lead and forced a Montana State timeout. UCI keyed in on the Bobcat hitters with Arielle Manz and Lee first stopping Kreun at the net and Manz and Pickrell then stopping Kiana Black on the next play (10-2). UCI hit a blistering .455 in the set and went on to collect the sweep on a kill from Bubica.

The Anteaters look to make it four in a row against the host Lobos tonight at 6:30 p.m.