Box Score MALIBU, Calif. – No. 5 UC Irvine recorded a season-high 78 kills to beat No. 8 Pepperdine, 3-1 (25-18, 25-22, 28-30, 28-26) at Firestone Fieldhouse.
The Anteaters had 33 more kills (78-45) than the Waves, but 29 service errors almost nullified the offensive performance. UCI out-hit Pepperdine .407 to .290 for the match.
UCI extends its winning streak to five in a row and improved to 16-6 overall and 10-5 in the MPSF. Pepperdine goes to 8-10 on the year and 6-9 in league action.
The Anteaters were led by senior Tamir Hershko who recorded a double-double with a match-high 22 kills and season-high 11 digs. On the outside, Thomas Hodges and Aaron Koubi each had 16 kills with Koubi matching his career-best 10 digs. Freshman middle blocker Scott Stadick put away a career-high 15 kills, while hitting .667 (15-1-21) and recording four total blocks. Setter Michael Saeta had a career-high 65 set assists to go with five kills and three aces.
The Waves were paced by David Wieczorek (14) and Noah Dyer (10) in kills. Soren Dion-Kindem had 31 set assists, while Weston Barnes collected 10 digs.
Kills by Thomas Hodges and Aaron Koubi gave UCI a 5-2 lead in the first set then three straight points pushed the Anteater advantage to 8-3. A 4-0 run which included a block, a kill by Koubi and an ace by Michael Saeta gave the Anteaters the 15-11 lead. UCI would never trail in the set and win 25-18.
Trailing 18-16 in the second set, the UCI middle took over with a kill by Scott Stadick and a block and kill by Andrew Benz to push the Anteaters ahead 19-18 forcing a Pepperdine timeout. Out of the break, UCI had kills by Hodges and Koubi to lead 21-18 forcing another Wave timeout. UCI held a 23-20 lead before back-to-back blocks by Pepperdine made things interesting, 23-22. Kills by Benz and a Hershko would end the set with kills, giving UCI the 25-22 victory.
UCI trailed 15-14 before the Anteaters used an ace by Saeta and a kill by Hershko to take 16-15 lead. A nice dig by Hershko lead to a kill by Koubi, 18-16. UCI continued to lead until Pepperdine rallied to take a 22-20 lead. The Waves held set point 24-23 before a kill by Hershko and a block by Stadick and Hodges turned the tables, 25-24, but an Anteater service error kept the teams playing. Pepperdine would close out the set with two kills, 30-28. UCI hit .548 to Pepperdine's .481 in the set.
A 4-0 run by UCI, which included a pair of kills by Koubi, put the Anteaters up 15-11 in the fourth set. Pepperdine would rally again scoring five in a row to take a 16-15 lead. Pepperdine would continue to lead 18-17 then Hodges had back-to-back kills to move UCI in front 19-18. The teams would trade points until a Hershko kill on the seventh match point was followed by a Wave attack error to seal the 28-26 win.
UCI will close out its month-long road swing next Friday (Mar. 31) at Stanford.
