THIS WEEK
MPSF Matches
No. 11 UC Irvine at No. 13 CSUN · Wednesday, Feb. 17 · 7:00 p.m. · Matadome
Live Stats Video
No. 11 UC Irvine at No. 1 Long Beach State · Friday, Feb. 19 · 7:00 p.m. · Walter Pyramid
Live Stats Video
QUICK HITS
No. 11 UC Irvine will stay on the road this week traveling to No. 13 CSUN Wednesday (Feb. 17) at the Matadome and No. 1 Long Beach State Friday (Feb. 19) at the Walter Pyramid. Both matches begin at 7:00 p.m.
The Matadors are 8-5 overall and 3-5 in the MPSF. Last week, CSUN beat USC and lost to Cal Baptist.
The series with CSUN is knotted at 26-26 all.
UCI has won the last 12 meetings, including a 3-0 win at the Bren and a 3-1 victory in Northridge last year.
Long Beach State is ranked No. 1 for the second consecutive week.
The Forty-Niners enter the week 11-2 overall and tied for the MPSF lead with an 8-2 record.
They are on a five match winning streak and will host UC San Diego before entertaining UCI.
LBSU is off to its best start since 2008 when it also opened the year at 11-2. The two losses came at the hands of BYU and UCLA.
Long Beach holds a 40-24 series advantage over the Anteaters, but UCI has taken the last three meetings. UCI swept the Beach at the Pyramid then took a 3-1 victory in Irvine last year.
The Anteaters are 4-8 overall and 3-7 in the MPSF.
UCI split a pair of matches last week, losing 3-0 at No. 10 UC Santa Barbara then upsetting No. 2 UCLA 3-2 at Pauley Pavilion.
Seniors led UCI to the victory over the Bruins. Kyle Russell put away a career-high 21 kills and seven total blocks as well as recording a season-high 11 digs and three aces. Jason Agopian totaled a career-high 13 kills to go with five blocks, while Marty Ross hit .600 with a career-high seven kills and team and career-best eight blocks.
Agopian led UCI against the Gauchos with 10 kills, hitting .500 (10-3-14).
The Anteaters are ranked fourth in digs (8.63) among MPSF teams and are fifth in aces (1.46) and assists (11.98).
Russell ranks fourth in the league in aces (0.46) and 15th in points (3.56). He is averaging 2.88 kills per game.
Agopian ranks third among MPSF players overall with a .462 hitting percentage. The middle blocker is averaging 2.13 kills and 0.71 blocks per set overall.
Ross leads the squad in blocking with a 1.20 average.
The Anteaters have played the longest set in the MPSF this season (Pep 34, UCI 32) and longest fifth set (UCL 20, UCLA 18).
