Box Score LOS ANGELES, Calif. – No. 3 UC Irvine suffered a 3-1 loss (19-25, 21-25, 25-21, 18-25) to USC Wednesday at the Galen Center.

The Anteaters go to 6-2 overall, while USC is 4-3 on the year.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Joel Schneidmiller led UCI with 12 kills and two aces
>Outside hitter Aaron Koubi had nine kills and tied his career-high with 11 digs
>USC out-hit UCI .345 to .234 and out-aced (8-4) and out-dug (35-33) the Anteaters
>Jack Wyett had a match-high 19 kills and two aces for USC

COACH KNIFFIN SAID
>Our execution wasn't great tonight. It's early and as seasoned as we are as a team we need to learn to be more consistent on any given night."

TURNING POINTS
FIRST SET
> A 5-1 run by USC created separation and gave the Trojans a 20-14 lead. Neither team had committed an attack error until a Scott Stadick block stopped a Trojan at 17-14
>The Trojans would win the set 2519-, hitting .690 (21-1-29). UCI wasn't bad with a .429 mark

SECOND SET
>The Anteaters started with a 5-0 lead in the second set with the help of two Joel Schneidmiller kills and a block by Stadick and Karl Apfelbach
>UCI would hold a 7-3 lead before the Trojans went on a 6-1 run to take a 9-8 lead and force a UCI timeout
>USC would score four unanswered to open a 15-11 lead
>A kill by Schneidmiller and a Trojan attack error got the Anteaters to 24-21, but a USC kill would end the set 25-21

THIRD SET
>UCI once again jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead, capped by a Schneidmiller ace
>UCI continued to lead before USC scored six in a row, five straight on UCI attack errors to take a 12-11
>The Anteaters would rally on a 5-0 run of their own, which included three Trojan attack errors and another Schneidmiller ace, 17-13
>USC wouldn't go away, closing to 19-18  and forcing a UCI timeout
>A kill by Stadick followed by three USC errors, the last a block by Stadick and Apfelbach gave UCI the win 25-21  

FOURTH SET
>An Apfelbach ace gave UCI a 6-4 lead
>A 3-1 spurt by USC moved the Trojans back in front 9-8
>USC led 15-14 then peeled off three in a row to open an 18-14 gap
>UCI could not recover and would lose the set 25-18 and the match 3-1

NOTES
>UCI out-blocked USC 8-6
>Schneidmiller leads the squad with 19 aces, one more than he had all of last season
>This is the first loss to an unranked team since the Anteaters fell to Fort Wayne on Mar. 7, 2018 (2-3)
 
UP NEXT
>UCI will debut at home for the first time on Friday (Jan. 25) hosting Concordia at 7:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center