Box Score IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine had a nation's best 22.5 blocks, but that was not enough to hold off Fort Wayne in a 3-2 (25-18, 18-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-9) non-conference loss at Crawford Court Wednesday.

UCI's 22.5 blocks is the most in the country this year and surpasses UCI's previous season-high of 14 set against Stanford.

The Anteaters out-hit the Mastodons .265-.210, but watched Fort Wayne total 8 aces to UCI's 1. UCI's 15 service errors were also untimely.

Senior outside hitter Aaron Koubi led UCI with 14 kills and a career-high nine total blocks. Freshman middle blocker Austin Wilmot posted a career-high 12 total blocks in his second career start. Outside hitter Joel Schneidmiller added 12 kills, while opposite Karl Apfelbach had 10 kills and six block assists. Middle blocker Scott Stadick recorded nine kills and seven total blocks. Libero David Parker had a match best nine digs.

Fort Wayne had a solid team effort with four players in double figure kills. Colton Stone had a match-high 17 kills and eight digs, followed by Pelegrin Vargas with 16 kills, Tony Price with 13 kills and nine digs and Tomas Gago with 11 kills.

Fort Wayne controlled the first set early hitting .750 (6-0-8) with a 10-5 lead. UCI chipped away and a solo block by Aaron Koubi tied the score at 12-12. The Mastodons would score the next four to take the 16-12 advantage. Back-to-back kills by Joel Schneidmiller got the Anteaters within 19-17, but an Anteater service and attack error and a Fort Wayne kill followed to move the margin back out to 22-17 for the Mastodons. Fort Wayne would win the set on an ace, 25-18.

UCI had 5.5 blocks in the second set on their way to a 25-18 victory. With the score tied at 11-11, used a kills by Schneidmiller and Karl Apfelbach and four straight Fort Wayne errors, two from blocks to make a move and take a 17-11 lead. Schneidmiller would end the set with a kill.

The UCI block ignited the crowd with three straight rejections to give the Anteaters a 9-5 lead. Another block by Aaron Koubi and Austin Wilmot put UCI up 16-13. Fort Wayne went on a 5-1 run to take an 18-17 lead. The teams would trade points until the Mastodons had kills by Colton Stone and Tony Price to end the set 25-23. Fort Wayne hit .069 in the set, but were helped by seven Anteater service errors. UCI had eight blocks in the set.

The teams remained within two points of each other for most of the fourth set and were tied at 17-17 when UCI used a Mastodon service error and a kill by Apfelbach to take a 19-17 lead. Koubi surveyed the court before setting the ball to the short right corner to make it 21-18. Fort Wayne would close to 23-22, but a Mastodon attack error on a broken play would sail wide giving UCI set point 24-22.  Following a Fort Wayne kill, Scott Stadick put down the set winner 25-23.

Colton Stone had back-to-back aces to help Fort Wayne to a 7-4 lead in the final set.  UCI would get as close as 9-7 on a Koubi kill, but Fort Wayne scored the next two and ended the match with the final three points, 15-9.

UCI will be back in action tomorrow (Mar. 8) hosting Ball State at 7:00 p.m. in Crawford Court.