RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UC Irvine remained winless in five set matches as the Anteaters lost 2-3 (25-19, 17-25, 22-25, 25-15, 11-15) at UC Riverside Friday night.

The Anteaters, who are 0-5 when going the distance this season, are 14-10 overall and 8-4 in the Big West.

UC Riverside goes to 8-15 overall and 3-8 in conference action.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Senior middle blocker Idara Akpakpa led UCI with a season-high 16 kills, hitting .467 (16-2-30), while adding a team-high five total blocks
>Senior Haley DeSales recorded a career-high 26 digs
>Outside hitter Abby Marjama (13) and Loryn Carter (12) followed in kills
>The Highlanders recorded 65 kills to the Anteaters 57 and out-dug UCI 80-70
>UCI held the advantage in aces (5-2) and blocks (10-9)
>Marissa Holt led a trio of UCR players in double-figure kills with a match-high 18 

TURNING POINTS
SET 1
>A kill by Idara Akpakpa was followed by three straight Highlander attack errors, the last two blocks by Akpakpa and Carter and an ace by Abby Marjama, 6-2
>Three more in a row including kills by Marjama and Makayla Wolfe made it 11-5
>A 4-1 run drew UCR to 12-9
>UC Riverside would tie the set at 15 all only to watch UCI score the next three on a kill by Carter, a Highlander attack error and an ace by Carter, 18-15
>UCI would win the set, 25-19 on kills by Akpakpa and Marjama

SET 2
>UCR jumped out to an early 6-3 lead
>A 5-2 run by the Highlanders extended the lead to 17-11 and forced a UCI timeout
>UCI would close to 18-14 on a kill by Haley DeSales, but that is as close as they would get as the Highlanders would roll to the 25-17 win

SET 3
>The third set started just like the last set with UCR owning a 6-2 advantage
>Two Akpakpa kills combined with a Highlander attack error narrowed the margin to 13-9 forcing a UCR timeout
>With the help of back-to-back Highlander errors, UCI trailed 20-18
>An Akpakpa block narrowed the margin to 21-20 and a Carter kill kept it at 22-21
>UCR would close the set, outscoring UCI 3-1 to win 25-22

SET4
>UCI went on a 8-2 spurt which included kills by Marjama, Ali Koumelis and DeSales to take a 13-7 lead
>UCI would score five straight including back-to-back aces by Wolfe to put the set out of reach, 18-8
>A kill by Carter ended the set with a kill, 25-13 and force a fifth game

SET 5
>UCI trailed 8-4 then rallied on a Sophie Wood dump and a block by Akpakpa and Carter to close to 9-8
>At 10-9, UC Riverside used a kill by Ashlyn Boitzer, an ace by Tara Eaton and a UCI attack error to take a 13-9 lead
>The teams would sideout to end the set 15-11 and give UC Riverside the match, 3-2

NOTES
>The loss snaps an 11-match winning streak against UC Riverside
>It is the second time Akpakpa has led the team in kills this season and the seventh time she has recorded double-figure kills
>It was DeSales ninth 20-dig performance

UP NEXT
UCI returns to action tomorrow, traveling to Cal State Fullerton for a 7:00 match at Titan Gym.