SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – UC Irvine closed out the 2019 schedule with a 3-0 loss (25-12, 25-23, 25-23) at UC Santa Barbara in the Thunderdome Saturday.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Freshmen Onye Ofoegbu and Joy Umeh led the Anteaters with 12 and 10 kills respectively. Ofoegbu hit .579, while Umeh hit .438
>Setter Kelly Negron had set assists and a team-best eight digs
>Lindsey Ruddins had a match-high 15 kills for UCSB

TURNING POINTS
FIRST SET
>UCSB opened a 7-3 lead on a block
>Another block forced a UCI timeout, 16-8
>The Gauchos hit .448 on their way to a 25-12 victory

SECOND SET
>Two block assists and a kill by Makayla Wolfe gave UCI a 7-4 lead
>The Gauchos would score the next three to knot the score at 7-7
>An Abby Marjama kill, a UCSB error and a kill by Onye Ofoegbu followed to give the Anteaters control 12-9
>A 4-1 spurt by UCSB would tie the score at 15 all
>Following a UCI timeout, UCSB recorded an ace and a kill to take a 17-15 advantage
>Every time the Gauchos would take a two point lead UCI would catch them, including at 20-20
>UCSB wouldn't relinquish the lead after that point, out-scoring the Anteaters 5-3 to end the set, 25-23
>The Anteaters would out-hit the Gauchos .325-.293 in the set

THIRD SET
>In another tightly contested game, UCSB would use back-to-back kills to take a 23-21 lead
>Following a kill by Wolfe, the Gauchos would side-out to end the match, 25-23
>Both teams were on fire offensively with UCI hitting .486 (19-2-35) and UCSB .517 (18-3-29)

NOTES
>The Anteaters end the year 5-23 overall and 2-14 in the Big West