Box Score IRVINE, Calif. – After a 10-day hiatus from action, No. 4 UC Irvine suffered a 3-1 upset at the hands of No. 12 Pepperdine (25-17, 34-32, 13-25, 25-16) at the Bren Events Center Wednesday.

Pepperdine's serving was key as the Waves fired 13 aces. Pepperdine also out-blocked UCI 8.0-7.5. The Anteaters, who go to 10-3 overall, out-hit (.301-.281) and out-dug (38-26) the Waves. 

Opposite Karl Apfelbach led UCI with 17 kills followed by outside hitter Joel Schneidmiller with 14. Middle blocker Matthew Younggren hit .538 with seven kills in 13 attempts and no errors. Libero David Parker had a match-high 11 digs and middle blocker Scott Stadick had a match-best five total blocks.

Pepperdine (5-4) had a trio of players with double-figure kills, led by David Wieczorek with 19 kills and three aces. Alex Harthaller had 13 kills and three aces and Colby Harriman added 10 kills and three aces. Max Chamberlain also had three aces.  

Back-to-back Anteater errors helped Pepperdine jump out to a 9-5 lead and they never looked back taking the first set 25-17. The Waves hit a blistering .700 (15-1-20), while UCI just managed .190 (10-6-21).

The teams were close throughout the second set with UCI holding set point three times before Pepperdine used a kill by David Wieczorek and a UCI attack error to hold the 27-26 advantage. UCI would have back-to-back kills by Joel Schneidmiller to go up 28-27, but the Waves would answer with two kills. Schneidmiller then answered with two more of his own (30-29). Pepperdine added a kill and an ace (31-30) then Scott Stadick had a kill and a block with Karl Apfelbach (32-31). Wieczorek put away two kills combined with a UCI attack error to give Pepperdine the set 34-32.

With the help of three Pepperdine attack errors, UCI started the third set with a 7-1 advantage. Kills by Matthew Younggren and Dante Chakravorti plus a Wave attack error moved the margin to 14-4. The Waves would close to 18-10 only to watch UCI finish the set on a 7-3 run. UCI would hit .556 on its way to the 25-13 victory.

In the fourth set it was all Pepperdine as the Waves would score six in a row to take an 11-4 lead. UCI would score four straight, two on Patrick Sohacki kills to get to 21-13. The teams would trade points until a UCI service error ended the set 25-16 for Pepperdine

UCI will play its first official Big West match next Friday (Feb. 23) against No. 3 Hawaii in Honolulu.