Box Score IRVINE, Calif. – Fifth-ranked UC Irvine beat No. 6 UCLA 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-22) in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation quarterfinal match at the Bren Events Center Saturday.
The Anteaters, the tournament's fourth seed, advance to the semifinals next Thursday (Apr. 20) against No. 1 Long Beach State at 7:30 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.
UCI wins its ninth straight and improves to 20-6 overall, while UCLA ends the year 17-10.
Junior Aaron Koubi led the Anteaters with 19 kills, hitting a blistering .625 (19-4-24). Tamir Hersko added 12 kills, six digs and two blocks, while Thomas Hodges had 10 kills, four digs and three total blocks.
The MPSF Freshman of the Year Scott Stadick recorded a match-high six total blocks, including one solo to tie Aaron Harrell (2006) for the single season record at 23. The middle blocker hit .700 with seven kills on 10 swings and no errors.
Setter Michael Saeta had 44 set assists and matched libero Dillon Hoffman with a team-high seven digs.
While he didn't accumulate many stats, senior middle blocker Andrew Benz came in the final three sets and played great defense and served well.
UCI led the Bruins in hitting percentage (.374-.259) and digs (29-21), while UCLA was better in serves (4-0) and blocks (8.5-8.0). The Bruins did commit a match-high 21 service errors.
Jake Arnitz had the bulk of the UCLA kills with 18 plus recorded a team-high three blocks. Micha Ma'a added 31 set assists, six kills and two blocks in the loss.
UC Irvine held a 21-18 lead in the first set before UCLA went on a 7-2 run to take the first set 25-23. The Bruins' run included two blocks, an ace and four kills.
The Anteaters were the team that took control late in the second set after trailing 20-18. Back-to-back kills by Aaron Koubi knotted the score at 20 all. The teams would trade points until UCI used UCLA service and attack errors to move in front 24-22. Following a Bruin timeout, Jake Arnitz had a kill for UCLA before another service error handed the Anteaters the 25-23 victory.
UCI out-hit UCLA .458 to .120 in the third set on the way to a 25-21 win. The Anteaters strung together three points on kills by Koubi and Michael Saeta and a block by Scott Stadick and Tamir Hershko to take the 12-6 advantage. The Bruins would get no closer than two the rest of the way as a kill by Saeta on a pass from Andrew Benz clinched the set for UCI.
UCLA would hold a 13-10 lead in the fourth set then a 5-1 spurt by UCI, the last a kill by Stadick evened the score at 14-14. The teams remained close then UCI had a kill by Koubi and a UCLA attack error to sneak ahead 20-18. Two more UCLA attack errors gave the Anteaters the 23-20 advantage. The teams would side-out with Koubi putting away the match-winner, 25-22.
