THIS WEEK 
No. 5 UC Irvine at Concordia · Wednesday, Mar. 13 · 7:00 p.m. · CU Arena
Live Stats    Watch 

No. 5 UC Irvine travels across the city to Concordia for a non-conference match Wednesday (Mar. 14) at 7:00 p.m. in CU Arena.

ABOUT THE EAGLES
The Eagles are 9-13 overall and 1-5 in the MPSF.

Concordia is riding a four-match winning streak.

They are 9-3 at home.

LAST TIME THE TEAMS MET
UCI won the first meeting at the Bren Center 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22) behind the strength of a season-high 15.5 blocks. UCI also out-hit Concordia .320-.178.

Joel Schneidmiller had a team-best 16  kills, hitting .429 (16-4-28), while Austin Wilmot tied his career-high with 11 kills, hitting .611 without committing an error (11-0-18). Wilmot and Apfelbach each had a match-best six block assists, a then season-high for both players.

Concordia's Jordan Hoppe had a match-high 19 kills.

ABOUT THE ANTEATERS
UCI is 14-5 overall.

Last week, UCI split a pair of matches at BYU. The Anteaters snapped a seven match winning streak with a 3-1 loss on the first night then rebounded with 3-1 victory the second night.

Joel Schneidmiller led UCI in both matches with 14 kills in the win and 23 kills and four aces in the loss. Aaron Koubi had 26 kills, while Alexandre Nsakanda put away 25 kills over the two matches.

With the loss, UCI dropped to No. 5 in the AVCA rankings.

NSAKANDA EARNS BIG WEST TOP FRESHMAN AWARD
Opposite Alexandre Nsakanda earned his second Big West Men's Volleyball Freshman Player of the Week award for his efforts last week.

The freshman made his second and third career starts at Smith Fieldhouse, compiling 25 kills (3.57 kpg) over seven sets with a solid .435 (25-5-46) hitting percentage. He logged a career-high 14 kills on the first night and returned with 11 kills on .474 hitting (11-2-19) in the rematch.

For the season, Nsakanda is averaging 1.65 kills, while adding five aces and 10 block assists.

SCHNEIDMILLER ENTERS RECORD BOOK
Outside hitter Joel Schneidmiller fired five aces over eight sets, upping his season total to 41. His 41 aces places the sophomore in 10^th for most aces in a season.
 
He ranks eighth nationally with a 0.56 average.

Schneidmiller has been the rock of the offense, leading the Anteaters in kills 12 times this year.

He ranks second in the Big West in points with a 4.51 average and owns a team-leading 3.64 kills, which ranks fourth in the conference. The sophomore is also 10th in hitting percentage (.316).

He paced UCI with 23 kills in the first meeting with the Cougars, the third most in league this season. The outside hitter has teh league's best performance with 28 in the season-opener versus Loyola.

IN THE RANKINGS
UCI ranks fifth in the country in assists (12.33) and kills (13.03).

They are second in the Big West in blocks (2.40), digs (8.79) and are first in attacks (28.01).

ON THE ATTACK
Senior opposite Karl Apfelbach is second on the team and 10th in the Big West with a 2.86 kill average. He is second on the team in aces with 21 which is the eighth most among conference players.

Graduate student Aaron Koubi averages 2.59 kills and 1.62 digs which is eighth in the Big West.  He has led the Anteaters in kills four times this season.

IN THE MIDDLE
Junior Scott Stadick is second in the Big West in blocking with a 1.27 average.  He also averages 1.61 kill average.

Sophomore Austin Wilmot is second on the team with a 0.93 blocking average. He had a season-high seven block assists on the second night in Provo. He is averaging 1.51 kills per set.