Box Score LONG BEACH, Calif. – UC Irvine hit .191 in a 3-0 loss (21-25, 22-25, 24-26) to Long Beach State at the Walter Pyramid Saturday.

UCI's .191 (40-18-115) is the lowest hitting percentage for the Anteaters in a Big West match this year.

Harlee Kekauoha led UCI (19-4, 7-3) with a match-high 15 kills. Middle blocker Idara Akpakpa had seven kills, while hitting .636 (7-0-11).

A trio of Forty-Niners (4-18, 4-8) had double-digit kills led by Hailey Harward with 12 kills and 13 digs. YiZhi Xue had 11 kills followed by Megan Kruidhof with 10.  

Long Beach State started with a 7-2 lead in the first set as UC Irvine didn't score a point on their own merits until Idara Akpakpa hammered a ball in the middle on the seventh point of the set. UCI would score three in a row to get within 8-6, but the Forty-Niners would win the next three to erase the effort. The Anteaters would use kills by Haley DeSales and Makayla Wolfe followed by a block by Wolfe and Harlee Kekauoha to narrow the deficit to 13-10. The Anteaters would get to 14-13 on an Akpakpa kill, but could never get closer the rest of the set as LBSU would win 25-21. The Anteaters would hit just .108 (12-8-37), while LBSU wasn't much better at .132 (12-7-38).

UCI started better in the second set, jumping out to a 6-2 lead which included two kills by Kekauoha and an ace by Kylie Green. The Anteaters would go on a 5-1 spurt to extend the advantage to 11-5. Long Beach State would chip away and record three straight kills to knot the score at 14-14. UCI responded scoring five of the next six point to regain control, 19-15. The Forty-Niners would not go away, using a 5-1 run to tie the score at 20 all. A kill by Akpakpa and a block by DeSales gave UCI a 22-20 cushion only to watch LBSU score the final five points to win the set 25-22.

UCI had a 5-1 lead early then had a big block by Akpakpa and Ali Koumelis spark a 13-5 advantage. UCI would continue to lead 15-9 before LBSU edged closer, 16-14 forcing an Anteater timeout. A LBSU block got the Forty-Niners within one (16-15) then kills by Wolfe and Kekauoha got UCI back on track 18-15. UCI would hold set point 24-21 before Long Beach State would score three straight to force UCI's final timeout (24-22). Four more LBSU points followed giving the Forty-Niners the 26-24 victory.  

UCI travels to UC Riverside next Thursday (Nov. 2) at 7:00 p.m.