IRVINE, Calif. – No. 7 UC Irvine dropped a 3-1 loss to No. 2 Long Beach State at the Bren Events Center Friday in front of 1,415 fans.

The Forty-Niners won by the scores of 25-22, 18-25, 25-18, 25-20.

UCI goes to 14-8 overall and 2-3 in the Big West, while Long Beach State improves to 20-1 and 5-0 in league action.

HEAD COACH DAVID KNIFFIN SAID
"I think it's important to demonstrate we can play with Long Beach, even without one of our traditional starters. We are still learning, still improving and that is exciting."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Opposite Karl Apfelbach led the Anteaters with 17 kills and eight digs plus a team-high three block assists
>Freshman Alexandre Nsakanda posted 10 kills and two aces
>Long Beach State hit .342, while the Anteaters hit .267
>Four LBSU players recorded double-figure kills led by Kyle Ensing's 16 to go with 11 digs and three aces
>Josh Tuaniga had a team-high 13 digs and 45 set assists for the Forty-Niners 

TURNING POINTS
FIRST SET
>UCI would start with a 3-1 lead with the help of a block assist and kill by Karl Apfelbach
>LBSU would knot the score at 4-4 and the teams would trade points until UCI went ahead 17-15 on a Forty-Niner service and attack error
>Long Beach would score the next two to tie it back up
>The teams would be deadlocked at 22-22 before the Forty-Niners would rattle off the final three points to take the set 25-22
>UCI stayed close despite hitting .150 (9-4-32)

SECOND SET
>UCI would score four straight, three LBSU attack errors and a kill by Alexandre Nsakanda, 17-12
>A kill by Apfelbach and another Forty-Niner attack error pushed the UCI lead to 20-15
>Following a Long Beach kill, UCI would close the set on a kill by Aaron Koubi and an ace by Apfelbach, 25-18

THIRD SET
>Long Beach State would string three points in a row to take a 6-3 lead
>Another 3-0 spurt by The Beach expanded the lead to 12-6
>A pair of kills by Stadick drew UCI to 19-15, but the Forty-Niners would not relinquish the lead and win 25-18

FOURTH SET
>LBSU started to pull away on a 7-1 run to lead, 13-6
>A kill by Apfelbach and a pair of Nsakanda aces moved UCI to 16-12
>With Long Beach State in front 20-14, UCI had two kills by Apfelbach and a LBSU attack error to force a Forty-Niner timeout, 20-17
>UCI would score one out of the break on a Long Beach attack error, but a kill and ace by DeFalco and a kill by Richard Louis made the Beach comfortable once again at 23-18
>Long Beach State would go in to win the set 25-20

NOTES
>The teams each had four blocks
>AJ Faille made his debut, recording his first dig
>Long Beach State extends its winning streak against UCI to eight in a row

UP NEXT
>The same two teams will meet again tomorrow (Mar. 30) at 7:00 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid