Santa Barbara, Calif. – No. 10 UC Santa Barbara beat No. 12 UC Irvine for the first time since 2010 in a 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 25-17) victory at Rob Gym Wednesday.

Middle blocker Jason Agopian led UCI with 10 kills, hitting .500 (10-3-14).  Kyle Russell and Marty Ross each added five kills, while Karl Apfelbach and Reid Dominguez had four kills, apiece. David Parker had a match-high 11 digs.

The Anteaters struggled offensively, hitting .081 (31-25-74) and were out-blocked 11-4.

UCSB was led by Austin Kingi's 10 kills followed by Matt Marsh with seven kills. Henri Cherry had six kills and six block assists and Ryan Hardy added six kills.

UCSB would go on a 4-0 run in the first set to open an 11-6 gap. UCI would get no closer and lose the game, 25-17.

UC Irvine jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the second set. The Gauchos would chip away and catch UCI at 13 all.  UCSB would build a 23-20 advantage before UCI would go on a 4-1 spurt to tie the set at 24-24 on a Tucker Pikula service ace. A UCI service error was followed by an attack error to give UCSB the 26-24 win.  

UCI would hit just .045 to UCSB's .360 in the third set as the Gauchos would win 25-17.  A huge 6-1 run by the Gauchos was the difference as UCI could only get as close as three the rest of the way.

The Gauchos (9-5, 5-4) snapped a three-match season losing streak and also beat the Anteaters for the first time in 12 matches. UCI dropped to 3-8 on the year and 2-7 in conference action.

In a quick turnaround, UCI will travel to No. 2 UCLA tomorrow (Feb. 11) for a 7:00 p.m. match at Pauley Pavilion.