Box Score Santa Barbara, Calif. – No. 9 UC Irvine toppled No. 3 UC Santa Barbara for the second consecutive night to secure third place in the Big West standings.

The Anteaters beat the Gauchos 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-21, 34-32) at Rob Gym Saturday.

UCI goes 5-5 in the Big West and improves to 17-10 on the year. UC Santa Barbara ends the regular season 4-6 in league play and 17-9 overall.

HEAD COACH DAVID KNIFFIN SAID
"I think it is important to recognize the excellent play from Karl Apfelbach, Joel Schneidmiller and Patrick Sohacki in some big moments. I think it is also important to recognize that what they did tonight was well within their individual abilities. No one played outside themselves.

I'm proud of this team for coming together, continuing to grow right up to, and hopefully through, the playoffs. This is a testament to their character and mindsets."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Joel Schneidmiller led UCI with 17 kills. He also recorded three aces
>Opposite Karl Apfelbach totaled 15 kills and fired a season-high five aces
>Libero David Parker tied his season-high with 17 digs
>Outside hitter Aaron Koubi added 10 kills
>The middles did not commit a hitting error with Scott Stadick recording seven kills on 11 attempts and Patrick Sohacki putting away six kills on 10 attempts. Stadick had a match-best five total blocks
>Corey Chavers led UCSB with a match-high 22 kills

TURNING POINTS
FIRST SET
>Back-to-back aces by Karl Apfelbach gave UCI a 5-3 lead
>A 5-1 spurt by the Anteaters which was capped by a block by Joel Schneidmiller and Patrick Sohacki and a kill by Aaron Koubi pushed the gap to 10-5
>A kill and block assist by Apfelbach helped force a Gaucho timeout, 15-8
>A UCSB service error and two kills by Koubi extended the lead to 18-9
>The Gauchos tried to rally scoring three in a row to edge to 21-16
>UCI would go on to win the set 25-17 behind a .444 hitting percentage

SECOND SET
>Three UCSB aces help boost the Gauchos to a 10-7 advantage
>An ace by Schneidmiller, a block assist and kill by Sohacki got the Anteaters to 22-19
>UCI would get as close as 24-22 on a Apfelbach kill, but an Anteater attack error gave UCSB the set 25-22
>The Anteaters hit .474 (12-3-19) in the set to UCSB's .375 (12-3-24)

THIRD SET
>Two Gaucho service errors and a kill by Stadick gave UCI a slight 13-11 lead
>An ace by Jonny Bowles extended the lead to 16-12
>UCSB would close to 19-18, but kills by Stadick and Koubi helped gain control 21-18
>An ace by Stadick to the back of the court gave UCI set point 24-20
>Schneidmiller pounded a kill for the winner, 25-21

FOURTH SET
>Trailing 14-12, a kill by Schneidmiller and another ace by Bowles knotted the score at 14 all
>UCSB made a late move on two UCI errors to take a 19-17 lead
>UCI used kills by Apfelbach and Stadick and an ace by Apfelbach to take the 21-20 lead
>UCI had three service errors on match point, but continued to battle and with the score tied at 32-32, the Anteaters used a kill by Sohacki and a block by Sohacki and Apfelbach to secure the 34-32 victory

NOTES
>Apfelbach fired nine aces over two matches against UCSB
>UCI out-blocked UCSB 8.5-5.0, the third straight match the Anteaters have had more blocks
>Jonny Bowles came off the bench to record three aces
>The Anteaters are on a three-match winning streak
>Stadick moved his team-leading solo block total to

UP NEXT
>UCI is the third seed for the Big West Championship hosted by Hawaii Thursday-Saturday (Apr. 18-20). The Anteaters will begin the tournament Thursday against six-seeded UC San Diego.