Box Score FAIRFAX, Virginia – No. 3 UC Irvine hit a blistering .500 in a sweep of Princeton to start the Uvaldo Acosta Invitational held at the Recreation Athletic Complex on the campus of George Mason.

The Anteaters posted the third best hitting percentage in the country this season with 42 kills on 72 attempts and just six errors.

UCI improves to 4-0 overall, while Princeton drops to 0-5.

COACH DAVID KNIFFIN SAID:
"It was nice to end this match with a good offensive stat line. I've probably underemphasized our offense through our training this season. I am confident in our ability to attack and I'm confident in Dante's (Chakravorti) ability to lead in this area."

SENIOR SETTER DANTE CHAKRAVORTI SAID:
"Offense always starts with passing. Princeton had some nice runs, but our passers stayed steady."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>UCI was led by reining Big West Player of the Week Joel Schneidmiller and Karl Apfelbach with 12 kills apiece. Schneidmiller hit .647 (12-1-17), while Apfelbach hit .526 (12-2-19)
>Schneidmiller also fired a career-high five aces
>Setter Dante Chakravorti added 29 set assists and shared the team lead in digs with Apfelbach recording six
>Middle blocker Scott Stadick hit 1.000 (5-0-5) and had a match-best six total blocks (2 solo)
>UCI had six aces to Princeton's 1
>The Tigers hit .182 (10-6-30) and were led by George Huhmann with 10 kills and five digs

TURNING POINTS
SET 1
>After Princeton scored the first point, UCI used a kill by Karl Apfelbach and two by Scott Stadick to jump out to a 3-1 lead
>Three aces by Joel Schneidmiller highlighted a 7-0 run by UCI to extend the lead to 11-3
>UCI would not lose command of the set, winning 25-17
>Both teams were red-hot offensively with the Anteaters hit .545 (13-1-22) to Princeton's .407 (11-5-27)

SET 2
>Princeton started with a quick 5-2 lead
>Three straight by the Tigers pushed the Princeton advantage to 8-3
>A pair of Schneidmiller kills plus one from Apfelbach narrowed the deficit to 9-12, forcing a Princeton timeout
>Out of the timeout, UCI scored the next three, the last a block by Apfelbach and Scott Stadick, tying  the score at 12-12
>The teams would trade points until UCI used a Princeton service error, a kill by Apfelbach and a Tiger attack error to gain a 21-19 edge
>The Anteaters won the final three points, including another Apfelbach kill and two Tiger mistakes giving UCI the set 25-21
>UCI continued the torrid offensive pace, hitting .556 (17-2-27)

SET 3
>Back-to-back kills by Schneidmiller helped the Anteaters to an early 4-1 lead
>A 4-1 spurt capped by a triple block from Stadck, Apfelbach and Aaron Koubi moved the lead to 8-4
>The set was broken open with a 7-1 run which included two blocks and two more Schneidmiller aces, 19-10
>The Anteaters would cruise to a 25-15 win

NOTES
>Stadick recorded two solo blocks and moved in to fourth all-time in UCI career solos with 57
>Schneidmiller has led the squad in kills each match this year
>Apfelbach's 12 kills is a season-high

UP NEXT
>UCI is back in action tomorrow against host George Mason at 4:30 p.m. PT in the final match of the Invitational