IRVINE, Calif. --- Five Anteater players recorded either a career or a season-high, leading No. 11 UC Irvine to a 3-1 (26-24, 22-25, 25-18, 25-18) win over USC Friday night at the Bren Events Center. The win snapped a five-match losing streak for the Anteaters, who iprove to 3-7 overall and 2-6 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
Karl Apfelbach tied for the team high with a career-best 16 kills while hitting .500 (16-3-26). Kyle Russell's 16 kills were a season-high for the outside hitter, who tied a season mark with a match-leading three aces. Tucker Pikula hit .524, putting away a personal-high 12 kills and came up two digs shy of a double-double. Jason Agopian also registered a season-best with 11 kills and hit .625, committing a lone error in 16 swings. Dante Chakravorti orchestrated the Anteater offense with a career-best 51 assists in the win.
The first set displayed offensive efficiency with both sides hitting over .500 in the set. The lead teetered back and forth with UCI pushing ahead by matching the largest lead of the contest at two at 16-14 on a kill by Apfelbach. The Trojans rallied to catch the Anteaters at 19-19 on an ace by Lisha Gert but at 21-21, UCI used a timeout to draw up a play and Agopian converted a kill down the middle for the 22-21 edge. UCI had set point at 24-23 but Lisha found Alex Slaught to hold off the Anteaters. The Trojans were unable to string together a second point as Lisha's serve found the net and Marty Ross gave UCI the win with a kill on a mishandled pass from the Trojans.
Both teams cooled considerably in the second, hitting under .200 for the frame. The Anteaters grabbed an early 6-4 lead but following consecutive attack errors, USC knotted the score at 6-6. UCI carved out a lead again at 14-10 on back-to-back aces from Russell. However, the Anteaters were unable to hold off the Trojans as Andy Benesh put away an over-pass by the Anteaters and Pikula sent an attempt long (16-16). Tommy Leonard aced Apfelbach to give USC its first lead of the set at 17-16 but it was Russell again, who came through with a pair of kills from the back row to push UCI ahead at 18-17. Following consecutive service errors by the two sides, Jon Rivera served a winner from the baseline to give USC set point and the Trojans tied the match on a kill from Lucas Yoder.
Chakravorti continued to distribute the ball evenly in the third set and the Anteaters limited themselves to a lone error in the frame, forcing USC to contend with a .581 hitting percentage. Pikula sparked UCI with a pair of kills and Ross and Apfelbach gave UCI the 14-11 advantage with a stuff on Yoder. Apfelbach followed by crushing the ball down the line as the lead extended to five (18-13). The Anteaters continued to apply pressure as the margin stretched to six following a kill from Pikula, who tooled the ball off the Trojan block (22-16). USC came out of a timeout and strung together three unanswered points (23-18) but Apfelbach found the line again to give UCI set point and then hit a flat-footed roll shot that dropped in the middle of the Trojan side to end the set.
The Anteater block reared its head in the fourth set behind Marty Ross, who tied a career-high six block assists. Ross was part of an early UCI triple block that denied Yoder and the senior then paired up with Apfelbach to send back a Rivera attempt. At 13-13, UCI mounted a 4-0 run as Agopian and Pikula delivered the block on Slaught to give UCI a 15-13 edge and Chakravorti handled an errant pass by the Trojans on the ensuing play (16-13). Russell kept USC off balance from the service line, leading to an unforced error before USC halted the rally with a solo block on Agopian (17-14), his only error of the night. Service errors hurt USC (21-17) and Pikula capitalized with a serve that hit the tape and dropped in for an ace (22-17). A Trojan timeout did not cool the Anteaters' run as Apfelbach posted a solo block on Rivera. Slaught's attempt on the following play hit the antennae to give UCI set point 24-17 and after a kill from Rivera, Slaught served the ball wide to end the contest.
_________________________________________________________________
For UC Irvine Athletics ticket information, please call (949) 824-5000 or e-mail athletics.tickets@uci.edu. For more information click here.
For information on how you can help support UC Irvine Athletics, please call (949) 824-6933 or e-mail aaf@uci.edu. For additional information, click here.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and by downloading the UCI Front Row app, available free to all Anteater fans through iTunes and Google Play, to view schedules, results, and up-to-the-minute news.
