Muncie, Indiana -- No. 13 UC Irvine started a tough road swing with a 3-2 loss (23-25, 27-29, 25-19, 25-22, 12-15) at No. 10 Ball State Sunday.

Senior Jason Agopian led UCI (7-14) with a career-high 16 kills, hitting .520 (16-3-25) and totaling four block assists. Michael Saeta followed with 15 kills and 37 set assists, while Kyle Russell and Karl Apfelbach each recorded 11 kills. Libero Dillon Hoffman tied his career-high for digs with 13. Andrew Benz played in three sets, hitting .714 (5-0-7) and matching Agopian for the team high in block assists with 4.

UCI had more kills 66-51 and out-hit Ball State .266-.172, but the Anteaters hurt themselves with 25 service errors.

Ball State's Brendan Surane put away a match-high 22 kills. Matt Walsh added 13 kills and Hiago Garchet totaled 42 set assists, 11 digs and five total blocks. Alex Pia rejected a match-best nine block assists for the Cardinals (17-5).

With the score tied at 23-23 in the first set, UCI had back-to-back attacks blocked to give Ball State a 25-23 victory.

The second set ended with a Ball State block as well 29-27. UCI held set point 25-24 on a block by Jason Agopian and Tucker Pikula, but the Cardinals would answer with a kill to keep the game going.

It was UCI's turn to win a set on a block by Andrew Benz and Karl Apfelbach in the third game, 25-19. The Anteaters broke open the set on a kill by Apfelbach, two block assists by Benz and a Cardinal attack error, 14-10. Ball State never led in the third stanza.

A kill by Michael Saeta would tie the fourth set at 18-18 and an ace by Saeta would put UCI in front 20-19. A kill by Benz and one by Kyle Russell made Ball State call its second timeout, 22-19. A UCI service error was followed by a BSU block to knot the score at 22 all. A kill by Pikula and an ace by Benz gave the Anteaters set point then a setting error by Ball State handed UCI a 25-22 victory.

In the fifth set, a Cardinal kill plus an Anteater attack that went wide extended Ball State's lead to 11-8. Ball State would end the set and the match with another block, 15-12.

UCI is in action again tomorrow (Mar. 21) traveling to Penn State for a 4:00 p.m. PT match.