Honolulu, Hawaii – No. 8 UC Irvine upset No. 3 Penn State, 3-2 (25-17, 25-18, 18-25, 22-25, 15-7) in the first match of the Outrigger Resorts Invitational held at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UCI (1-1) was led by Zack La Cavera and Tamir Hershko with 17 kills each. Hershko fired a career-high five service aces while La Cavera tied his career best with seven block assists. Jason Agopian recorded a career-high eight block assists to go with four kills and. Kyle Russell added 10 kills. Setter Michael Saeta had five kills in five attempts and totaled 42 set assists, seven digs and three aces. Libero Michael Brinkley matched Saeta with seven digs.

Penn State (0-1) hit just .140 for the match and was led by Aaron Russell's 19 kills, nine digs and two aces. Nick Goodell recorded 10 kills in the loss.

Trailing 11-8 in the first set, UCI peeled off four straight points on a PSU service error, an ace by Tamir Hershko and a pair of Zack La Cavera kills to take a 12-11 lead. A kill by Jason Agopian in the middle capped another 4-0 swing to push the Anteater lead to 20-16. Hershko would fire back to back aces to end the set 25-21. La Cavera had six of UCI's 15 kills in the initial set.

UCI went on a 4-1 run to go ahead 15-12 on a La Cavera kill then the second set would end the same as the first with a Hershko ace, 25-18.

UCI gained a two point cushion, 7-5, on back-to-back attack errors by the Nittany Lions, but back-to-back Anteater errors would tie the set at 13-13. UCI would hit .190 and fall in the third set, 25-18..

Six UCI errors helped PSU to a 10-6 advantage in the fourth set. The Anteaters would close to 16-15, but two more UCI attack errors helped the Nittany Lions to a 19-15 advantage. PSU would take the set 25-22 to force a game five.

UCI jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead in the fifth set on two kills by Hershko and a block by Hershko and Agopian. Penn State would narrow the margin to 8-5 before UCI would score five in a row, the last a kill by Andrew Benz, to open a 13-5 lead. UCI would win the set and match on a Hershko kill.

The Anteaters will battle No. 14 Ohio State tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. PT.