IRVINE, Calif. – No. 7 UC Irvine remained undefeated in five-set matches as they rallied to beat No. 13 UC Santa Barbara, 3-2 (25-23, 25-27, 18-25, 28-26, 18-16) at Crawford Court Saturday.

The Anteaters are a perfect 6-0 when going the distance, which they have done on back-to-back nights. UCI improves to 11-5 overall and 8-4 in the MPSF. UCSB goes to 7-9 on the year and 4-9 in the MPSF.

UCI had four players with double-digit kills led by Tamir Hershko with 19 kills, while hitting .417. Thomas Hodges followed with 14 kills, Scott Stadick had a career-high 13 kills and eight block assists and Aaron Koubi matched his career-high with 11 kills. Dillon Hoffman had a team-best 11 digs, while Michael Saeta had 48 set assists, five kills and five block assists Matthew Younggren hit .625 with five kills on eight attempts.

The Anteaters out-blocked the Gauchos 12-9 and survived despite recording 31 serving errors.

After falling behind 2-1 in sets and trailing 14-19 in the fourth game, UCI mounted a comeback. At 17-21, a kill by Thomas Hodges was followed by an ace by Scott Stadick and three straight UCSB errors, one on a solo block by Aaron Koubi to move UCI in front 22-21.UCSB had match-point three times before three consecutive Gaucho errors handed UCI a 28-26 victory and a chance to keep playing.

UCI trailed 12-8 in the fifth set before they went on a 7-2 run to go up 15-14. Two blocks and two kills by Stadick helped the Anteaters in that run. Two Anteater service errors put the match in jeopardy, but back-to-back kills by Hershko secured the victory, 18-16,

UCI will hit the road for the entire month of March, beginning with a quick trip to Long Beach State Wednesday (Mar. 1).