IRVINE, Calif. – Outside hitter Aaron Koubi and opposite Alexandre Nsakanda lead No. 3 UC Irvine to a 3-2 (25-19, 25-27, 23-25, 25-14, 16-14) win at the Bren Events Center Thursday.

The duo hit .545 (27-3-44) with Koubi leading UCI with a season-high 17 kills and Nsakanda adding a career-best 10 kills off the bench.

The Anteaters improve to 13-2 on the year and 2-0 in the Big West, while UCSD goes to 5-8 overall and 0-2 in league action. 

HEAD COACH DAVID KNIFFIN SAID
"Koubi was steady to go with the explosiveness of Nsakanda. I felt we uncovered some of our strengths tonight. When things were tough it was nice to see people step up and make things happen."

OUTSIDE HITTER AARON KOUBI
"I'm happy we got a win as a united team and even more excited to see my French Canadian friend to play out of his mind."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Koubi hit .469 (17-2-32) with five digs and three block assists. He did not commit an attack error until the third set, hitting .533 (8-0-15)
>Nsakanda sparked UCI in the fourth set with three kills then took over in the fifth with seven kills, hitting .750 (10-1-12) for the match. He also fired a career-high two aces
>Outside hitter Joel Schneidmiller totaled 11 kills, 10 digs and four aces
>Senior setter Dante Chakravorti totaled 51 set assists and eight digs, while leading UCI to a .368 hitting percentage
>UCI dominated the net with a 12-6 advantage and led the Tritons behind the service lines with 8 aces to three
>Collin Shannon had a match-high 21 kills for UC San Diego. The Tritons hit .291

TURNING POINTS
FIRST SET
>A block by Dante Chakravoti and Scott Stadick was followed by a kill by Karl Apfelbach to put the Anteaters up 10-7 then a Triton service error and an ace by Joel Schneidmiller extended the lead to 12-8
>UCSD would edge to 15-13 before back-to-back kills by Aaron Koubi and Schneidmiller gave UCI control 17-13
>The Anteaters would take the set 25-19 on an Austin Wilmot kill in the middle

SECOND SET
>UCI trailed 11-9 then used a kill by Koubi and two aces from Schneidmiller to take
a 12-11 lead
>A 3-1 spurt by UC San Diego gave the Tritons the lead 19-17
> A kill by Schneidmiller plus a bad set by UCSD knotted the set at 20-20
>Tied at 25-25, UCSD would have a kill by Collin Shannon and a UCI attack error to win the set, 27-25

THIRD SET
>UCI would hold a 14-10 lead then the Tritons peeled off four straight to tie the set
>The Anteaters would lead 19-17 then committed three straight errors. A UCSD kill was next to move the Tritons in front 22-19
>A UCSD attack error and a kill by Schneidmiller tied the set at 22-22
>The Tritons would score three of the next four points to win the game 25-23

FOURTH SET
>With the set tied at 6-6, UCI scored four in a row, two on Koubi kills to take the 10-6 lead
>Three more in a row, the last a block by Stadick and Alexandre Nsakanda moved the gap to 13-7
> Nsakanda would record a kill then had a hustle play to send the ball over that resulted in a block by Schneidmiller and Wilmot, 18-10
>A Triton service error would end the set for UCI 25-14
>Nsakanda would spark the Anteaters with three kills in the set

FIFTH SET
>UCSD would jump out to a 3-1 lead, but the Anteaters would tie it with a block by Chakravorti and Wilmot then go ahead with a kill by Koubi and an ace by Nsakanda, 5-3
>UCSD would call timeout after a kill by Koubi as UCI was hitting .889 (8-0-9), taking a 10-7 lead
>A pair of kills narrowed the Anteater advantage to 11-10
> Nsakanda would have a kill and an ace to move the gap to 13-10
>UCSD would score the next three, two on UCI errors, to tie the game at 13 all
>A service error and an attack error by UCSD would end the set 16-14 and the match 3-2
>The Anteaters hit .714 (11-1-14) in the final stanza 

NOTES
>UCI increases its winning streak against UCSD to 18 straight
>Schneidmiller records his fourth double-double of the year
>UCI is 4-1 on Valentine's day in the Kniffin era
>Austin Wilmot had a match-best six blocks, while Scott Stadick recorded five blocks

UP NEXT
>UCI will take a week off before hosting No.2 Hawaii Mar. 1 & 2 at the Bren Center.