IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine was unable to contain UC Davis in the fifth set and was held to a .038 hitting percentage in the final frame as the Anteaters lost 25-23, 16-25, 25-18, 15-25, 15-9 Saturday at the Bren Events Center.

Luna Tsujimoto led the back-row effort with 22 digs as the Anteaters out-dug the Aggies, 80-69. The sophomore received support from Harlee Kekauoha and Marisa Bubica, who each had 15 digs apiece, a career-high for Bubica. Kekauoha, who tied a personal-best in digs, pounded 15 kills for a double-double with Bubica chipping in 11. Ella Rosenfeld also had 11 kills and hit .360 to go along with five blocks. Shelley Anderson handed out 50 assists and picked up 12 digs for a double-double effort.

The Anteaters (12-15, 6-9) pulled ahead 6-4 in the first on a bad set called on Sophia Mar and Kekauoha followed by acing Kaylin Squires to push UCI ahead by three. Anderson elected to go to Rosenfeld on consecutive plays and the middle blocker converted on both tries for UCI's largest lead at 10-5. Following a timeout by UC Davis, the Aggies went to middle Kelechi Ohiri, who knocked the ball down to halt UCI's run. The deficit continued to shrink as Kendall Walbrecht converted on a play and the score eventually knotted at 14-14 after a kill from Ohiri. Mar was called for the lift to give UCI a 19-18 edge and Dennis and Anderson teamed upon Aime Eichie to push ahead by two (20-18). However, the Anteaters were first called for a center-line violation and then were blocked on a pair of plays as the Aggies took a 24-22 lead. Kekauoha held off set point with a cross-court smash but Emily Allen bounced the ball off the Anteater block to end the frame.

UCI built an early lead in the second behind Bubica, who hit a back-row shot and Anderson, who put the ball away on the second touch to force the Aggies to take a timeout at 10-5. Tsujimoto, who already had 10 digs at the timeout, kept the ball alive for UCI and Lena Latour tooled the ball as the Anteaters extended the lead to six at 13-7. The back-row continued to deliver and Dennis highlighted a front-row effort with three block assists. UCI never looked back and rode a .448 hitting percentage with Dennis finding the seam in a UC Davis triple block for the game-winner.

The teams battled in the third, keeping the set close. The Aggies took a 13-11 edge after Ohiri slammed down the over-pass by the Anteaters and pulled ahead to a three-point lead after Allen nailed a kill. The gap grew to four as Allen aced Tsujimoto (17-13) with the service winner sparking a 5-0 run that gave UC Davis a 21-13 lead. The rally was finally halted when an Allen serve went into the net but unforced errors by UCI led to set point for the Aggies and Maddie Merlino went to Walbrecht to end the set.

In the fourth, the Anteaters found themselves trailing 5-2 but went on a 7-0 run to take a 9-5 lead with the Aggies using both their timeouts in the rally. After Rosenfeld provided a solo block on Ohiri, Squyres went cross-court to halt the run. The lead grew to six (14-8) as Sydney Wright found the deep corner and then paired up with Dennis to deny Nicola Moore. The Aggies, held to a .081 clip, were unable to find their rhythm but rallied to pull to within four points at 17-13. The Anteaters took a timeout to regroup. A kill from Kekauoha was followed by three consecutive UC Davis errors before Anderson and Rosenfeld forced the fifth set with a block on Allen.

In the fifth, the Anteaters had to play from behind as UC Davis out-scored UCI 3-1 to force the side change at 8-4. Anderson went to Rosenfeld who hit the ball on the slide and Squyres and Mar followed with consecutive errors as UCI slashed the lead to one (9-8). A miscommunication by Anderson and Kekauoha set off a three-point run with Mar going to Squyres for back-to-back kills (12-8). Wright's attempt fell into the net and the Aggies converted on the final two plays to take the win.

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