Irvine, Calif. – The UC Irvine offense stalled in a 3-0 (16-25, 16-25, 25-27) loss to third-ranked Stanford.
The 13th-ranked Anteaters (4-11, 3-10) hit .137 (33-20-95) and registered 18 service errors in the loss to the Cardinal (14-2, 12-2).
Marty Ross and Kyle Russell paced UCI with nine kills each. It was a career-best in kills for Ross who also led the squad with five total blocks. Tucker Pikula added seven kills and a team-high seven digs.
Stanford hit .275 (32-13-69) and fired seven aces with just eight service errors. Kevin Rakestraw had a team-best eight kills and five block assists Gabriel Vega totaled seven kills, while Connor Kaminski hit .600 (6-0-10).
UCI started with a quick 3-1 lead to start the match, but Stanford would capitalize on six straight Anteater errors to jump ahead 7-3. A 5-0 run helped the Cardinal expand the lead to 18-10 as they would win the first set 25-16. UCI had five service errors and hit .000 (8-8-21).
After leading 16-12, Stanford peeled off six unanswered to open a 22-13 advantage and won the second set 25-16.
UCI controlled much of the third set and topped Stanford 16-7 after scoring seven in a row, which included three blocks. The Cardinal would go on an 8-1 spurt to close within 17-15 and would catch UCI 22-22 after a kill by Kevin Rakestraw and a UCI attack error. Back-to-back kills by Kyle Russell gave UCI set point, but Stanford would use a service error and block to tie score 24-24. Another UCI service error and a kill by Gabriel Vega ended the set 27-25 in favor of Stanford.
UCI returns to action tomorrow (Feb. 27) hosting No. 10 Pepperdine at 7:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.
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