Box Score THIS WEEK
UC San Diego vs San Diego State · Wednesday, Sept. 7 · 6:00 p.m. · Aztec Court
Live Stats
USD INVITATIONAL
Hosted by University of San Diego
UC Irvine vs No. 15 San Diego · Thursday, Sept. 8 · 7:00 p.m. · Jenny Craig Pavilion
Live Stats Video
No. 7 UCLA vs UC Irvine · Friday, Sept. 9 · 4:30 p.m. · Jenny Craig Pavilion
Live Stats Video
No. 18 Colorado vs UC Irvine · Saturday, Sept. 10 · 2:00 p.m. · Jenny Craig Pavilion
Live Stats Video
QUICK HITS
A busy week awaits UC Irvine as it plays four matches in four days, battling three ranked teams.
After traveling to San Diego State Wednesday (Sept. 7) for a 6:00 p.m. match at Aztec Court, UCI will participate in the USD Invitational Thursday-Saturday (Sept. 8-10) held at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The Anteaters will play three consecutive ranked opponents starting with host San Diego Thursday (Sept. 8) at 7:00 p.m. then UCLA Friday (Sept. 9) at 4:30 p.m. and end with Colorado Saturday (Sept. 10) at 2:00 p.m.
The Anteaters enter the week 2-4 overall after going 1-2 last week. UCI beat Northeastern (3-1) before suffering a pair of 3-1 defeats to Washington State and California at the LBSU/UCI Mizuno Invitational.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
San Diego State, who is 3-3 overall, has won the last three meetings with UCI.
USD moved up to No. 15 in the national rankings and is 2-2 overall. The Toreros knocked off No. 11 Stanford in the first match of the year.
UCI leads the series record with the Toreros 23-17, winning the last meeting 3-1 last year when USD was ranked 21st.
The seventh-ranked Bruins won their sixth in a row with a sweep at #15 Hawai'I last Saturday. The Bruins' 6-0 record marks their best start to a season since their National Championship year of 2011.
UCI will be looking for its first win against the Bruins, falling the previous seven times, including a 3-0 loss last year in Irvine.
UCI volunteer assistant coach Megan Moenoa was a setter on UCLA's 2011 national championship team.
18th-ranked Colorado is 4-1, with the only loss to Portland State (3-2). Last week, Colorado upset No. 17 Illinois (3-2) and No. 13 Penn State (3-2) at the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge. It was the first time CU won back-to-back matches regular season non-conference matches against ranked opponents.
This will be the first meeting with Colorado.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
UCI is averaging more kills (12.8-12.2), aces (1.3-1.2), set assists (12.1-11.2) and digs (14.5-13.3) than its opponents this year.
LEADING THE WAY
Sophomore Harlee Kekauoka led UCI in two of the last three matches last week. She had 15 kills in the win over Northeastern and 11 versus California. The opposite is one of 13 players nationally to record a triple double this year. She is averaging 2.43 kills, 2.74 set assists, 2.22 digs and 0.52 blocks per set.
Senior
Victoria Dennis leads the squad with a 3.86 kills per set average, which ranks fifth among Big West players. The outside hitter has recorded kills in double-digits in all but one match this year.
Sophomore Ali Koumelis leads the team in set assists with a 7.22 average. She had a career-high 46 set assists and 18 digs versus Northeastern. The setter tops the squad in aces with eight and is second on the squad in digs with a 3.17 average.
Transfer Haley DeSales pounded a career-high 12 kills versus her old Washington State team. The outside hitter is averaging 1.74 kills and 2.65 digs.
Freshman Loryn Carter has added another offensive option for the Anteaters. She posted a career-high 13 kills in the win over Northeastern then shared the team lead with 11 kills versus Cal. The outside hitter is also averaging 0.55 blocks.
Libero
Luna Tsujimoto totaled a season-high 22 digs against Northeastern and leads the team with a 3.57 digs average. The junior fired a career-high three aces against Washington State.
Junior Danielle Geiger leads the team in blocking with a 0.78 average. She recorded eight total blocks over three matches last week.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Anteaters will have another jam-packed week, traveling to Fresno State (Sept. 15) before competing in the Roadrunner Classic where they will take on San Francisco (Sept. 16) and Northern Arizona and CS Bakersfield (Sept. 17).
