No. 6 UC Irvine Escapes With 3-2 Win Over No. 12 Grand Canyon

No. 6 UC Irvine Escapes With 3-2 Win Over No. 12 Grand Canyon

January 20, 2018 | Men's Volleyball

By: Stacey Shackleford

PHOENIX, Ariz. – No. 6 UC Irvine escaped with a 3-2 victory (22-25, 25-17, 17-25, 25-19, 15-13) over No. 12 Grand Canyon in front of a raucous crowd of 1,379 in Antelope Gymnasium.

The Anteaters, who improve to 6-1 overall and win their fourth straight, hit .438 (63-14-112) and out-blocked the Antelopes 12-7.5. GCU (6-2) held the slight 30-29 dig advantage.

Opposite Karl Apfelbach lead UCI with 17 kills, 12 of them coming in the last three sets. Outside hitter Aaron Koubi hit .500 with a season-high 16 kills (16-4-24), while middle blocker Scott Stadick had a season-high 10 kills, six blocks and a .529 (10-1-17) hitting percentage. Middle blocker Matthew Younggren had a season-high nine kills and matched Stadick with a season-high six blocks. Setter Dante Chakravorti had a season-high 58 set assists and six digs. Outside hitters JB Kam (6-0-9) and Joel Schneidmiller (5-0-6) hit a combined .733. Libero David Parker had a match-high 10 digs.

Grand Canyon was led by Shalev Saada's match-high 20 kills.

With the first set tied at 20-20, Grand Canyon had four straight kills to hold set point, 24-20. UCI would try to make a run scoring the next two points, but an Anteater service error gave the 'Lopes the 25-22 win.

GCU would score the first three points of the second set before UCI caught fire reeling off seven unanswered, 7-3. Three GCU attack errors and a kill by Karl Apfelbach expanded the advantage to 11-5 and UCI never looked back winning the set 25-17.

The Antelopes made a move in the third set with a block and back-to-back kills by Shalev Saada, 6-4. A UCI service error and attack error by way of the block gave GCU the 11-7 lead forcing an Anteater timeout. Three straight by GCU put the set out of range 18-11 and the Antelopes would win 25-17.

In the fourth set, the Anteaters used a pair of Antelope errors and an ace by Scott Stadick to move in front 9-6. Stadick and Apfelbach teamed up for a block and each put away a kill to extend UCI's lead to 15-10. A pair of kills by Joel Schneidmiller and a one by Matthew Younggren gave UCI some feeling of comfort, 21-16. A kill by Stadick ended the set, 25-19.

Cullen Mosher fired two consecutive aces to move GCU in front 8-6 in the fifth set. UCI would chip away and tie the set at 9-9 on a kill by Koubi. With GCU leading 11-9, UCI would go on a 5-1 run to hold set point (14-12) on an ace by Apfelbach. Following a service error, a kill by Koubi would end the match 15-13.

Earlier in the day, UCI defeated Benedictine at Mesa in an exhibition match, 3-1. Patrick Sohacki led the Anteaters with 16 kills, while Reid Dominguez knocked down 12 kills and had six digs. Grant Friedman totaled 10 kills and Austin Wilmot and Ben Sebastian each added four blocks. Setter Logan Zotovich recorded 22 set assists and eight digs. Schneidmiller had a team-best nine digs.

Next week, UCI will travel across Irvine to face Concordia on Wednesday (Jan. 24) before returning home to host BYU in a pair of matches Friday and Saturday (Jan. 27-28). Both matches are at the Bren Events Center beginning at 7:00 p.m. (Buy Tickets).

NOTES: Koubi hit a perfect 1.000 (6-0-6) over the last two sets…Younggren put away five of his kills to help UCI win the second set…The Anteaters had a season-high 21 service errors…UCI is 1-1 in five set matches this year…Apfelbach recorded his fifth double-figure kill match of the season.