Box Score LONG BEACH, Calif. –Third seed UC Irvine swept sixth seeded UC San Diego 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-16) In the first match of the inaugural Big West Championship at the Walter Pyramid.

The third ranked Anteaters advance to the first semifinal match against Hawaii tomorrow (Apr. 20) at 5:00 p.m. The teams split a pair of matches earlier in the season in Honolulu, HI.

"I'm grateful to the Athletic Directors, Chancellors and Presidents and the Big West for making this in to a reality, UCI head coach David Knffin said. "This is unique and really special. There is nothing like Big West Volleyball and I'm just grateful to be here."

UCI improved to 21-8 overall on a balanced offensive attack with five players registering at least seven kills. The Anteaters ended the night hitting a season-high .551 (54-4-89) as a team.

Opposite Karl Apfelbach paced UCI with 17 kills, hitting .571 (17-1-28) and adding two aces. Outside hitter Aaron Koubi hit .667 with eight kills on 12 swings and no errors. He recorded his first double-digit dig performance of the year with a match-high 10 digs and two aces. Outside hitter Joel Schneidmiller had nine kills, while middle blockers Scott Stadick and Austin Wilmot posted eight and seven kills, respectively. Setter Dante Chakravorti spread the attack with 42 set assists.

"Even though the score was close set one and two, for us on the court, it just felt like we were doing our jobs and calibrating to how they were playing," Koubi said. "We were just playing our game."

UC San Diego was led by Tanner Syftestad's 11 kills.

In the first set, UCI took a 16-13 lead after a kill by Karl Apfelbach, an ace by Aaron Koubi and a Triton hitting error. Another three-point spurt which included kills by Wilmot and Apfelbach extended the lead to 21-16.  A block by Scott Stadick and Apfelbach ended the set 25-18.

Back-to-back kills by Stadick gave UCI an early 9-8 lead in the second set then another kill by Stadick followed by two from Koubi pushed the Anteater lead to 17-13. A Koubi ace made it 19-14 and a kill by Tucker Pikula out of the back row gave UCI a 21-15 advantage. Kills by Wilmot and Koubi gave UCI the 25-18 victory.

Apfelbach began to dominate the third set, putting away four kills and two aces as UCI jumped out to a 10-3 lead. The Anteaters never let up and won the set and 25-16.

NOTES: UCI wins the first ever Big West post-season match…It was the 16^th straight victory over the Tritons…UCI is 12-0 in three set matches this season…Pikula recorded his first kill of the season…Three blocks is a season-low for UCI, but they managed to better UCSD who only had 2…Chakravorti recorded his fifth solo block of the season and is tied for third on the team in that category…UCI has recorded a .500 or better hitting night for the second time this season.