ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The UC Irvine women's volleyball team continued its perfect start to the season as it closed out the Marcia E. Hamilton Classic with a 3-1 victory over Illinois State Saturday at Chaifetz Arena. Set scores were 17-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-20.
 
The 'Eaters, who defeated Saint Louis, 3-1, just a couple hours earlier, dropped the opening set for the first time this year, but regrouped to conclude the tournament at 3-0, and improve to 6-0 overall.
 
UCI finished the evening with a season-high 73 digs. Senior libero Luna Tsujimoto led the defense with an individual season-best 20 digs. She has now reached double digits in all six matches, and is averaging 4.19 digs per set.
 
Junior setter Ali Koumelis recorded her first double-double of the year with 38 assists and 14 digs. Senior Brianna Montgomery added a career-high 15 digs and junior Harlee Kekauoha had 12. Junior Idara Akpakpa anchored the effort at the net with a season-best five blocks.
 
Junior Haley DeSales paced the offense again with 17 kills, while Akpakpa and Kekauoha added nine kills each.

Kekauoha was named Tournament Most Valuable Player, while DeSales and Akpakpa were named to the all-tournament team.
 
In the opening set, UC Irvine took an early 6-3 lead on a DeSales ace before Illinois State answered with a 12-3 run to pull ahead, 15-9. The Redbirds increased their cushion to 11, forcing UCI to call a timeout. The 'Eaters responded out of the short break, scoring six-straight points, capped by back-to-back kills from Akpakpa, to close the gap to 21-15, but they were unable to dig themselves out of the hole as they fell, 25-17.  
 
It went back-and-forth to start set two before the Anteaters used a 7-2 run to go up, 11-6. ISU battled back to make it a two-point game before UC Irvine rattled off six unanswered for a 17-9 edge. DeSales led the charge with three kills during the 6-0 rally. The 'Eaters continued to roll from there with a kill from sophomore Makayla Wolfe eventually giving them the 25-16 victory.
 
UCI led wire-to-wire in the third frame as Kekauoha and DeSales started the set with back-to-back kills. The Anteaters continued to push, going on top, 12-7, following a kill and ace from Wolfe. The Redbirds cut the deficit to two on several occasions, but UC Irvine never wavered with key kills from Wolfe, DeSales and Akpakpa down the stretch. It was Akpakpa's put-away that ended it at 25-21, while Wolfe had five of her seven kills in the set.
 
Illinois State (3-2) appeared to turn the tables in the fourth, racing out to an 11-5 advantage, but the Anteaters came storming back with an 11-4 run that gave them their first lead of the set at 16-15. The Redbirds got a kill to knot the score before UCI turned it up a notch as a 6-1 spurt, which ended with a Tsujimoto ace, made it 22-17. The 'Eaters were never threatened from that point, emerging with the 25-20 victory. They ended up scoring 14 of the final 19 points.
 
Jaelyn Keene had a team-high 16 kills (.412) for Illinois State. The Redbirds were held to a .175 hitting percentage.
 
UC Irvine continues tournament play next weekend when it heads to Las Vegas, Nev., for the UNLV Challenge. The Anteaters are set to face Louisville (12 p.m.) and the host Rebels (7 p.m.) on Friday, Sept. 8, before taking on Weber State (11:30 a.m.) on Saturday, Sept. 9.