Box Score AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – The UC Irvine block ignited a 3-2 victory over the United States Air Force Academy (20-25, 25-18, 26-24, 15-25, 15-11) at the Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic Friday evening.

UCI had a season-high 11 blocks, including four in the fifth set to help the Anteaters to its second win of the year (2-6). Air Force goes to 2-5 overall.

COACH ASHLIE HAIN SAID:
"Our team learned a lot about the fight we need to show each and every time we step on the court. I was proud of each and every player, stepping up when it counted, especially our freshmen."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Junior Loryn Carter posted a season-high 15 kills and four block assists
>Sophomore Abby Marjama added 11 kills, 12 digs and two aces
>Redshirt freshman Kiani Stanton had a career-high six kills, while hitting .455 (6-1-11)
>Makayla Wolfe had a match-best six block assists

TURNING POINTS
FIRST SET
>Air Force came out with a quick 6-1 lead
>After trailing 8-2, UCI rallied on kills by Loryn Carter, Carrissa MacDonald and a block by Kelly Negron and Makayla Wolfe to close to 8-5
>An ace by Negron made it 12-10, but Air Force would go on an 8-2 run to open a 20-12 advantage. Seven of the points in the run came on Anteater errors
>A pair of Marjama kills plus a pair of Falcon attack errors snuck UCI to 23-20 forcing and AFA timeout
>Out of the timeout, Air Force had two kills to end the set 25-20

SECOND SET
>Back-to-back blocks, the first by Carter and Kiani Stanton and the second by Stewart and Wolfe and would help UCI to a 4-1 lead
>A 9-3 spurt which had two kills by Stewart and an ace by Marjama opened a 17-8 lead for the Anteaters
>The Falcons would answer with an 8-2 run of their own to close within 21-17 before a Marjama kill would stop the momentum
>Three Falcon errors would close out the set handing UCI a 25-18 victory

THIRD SET
>Air Force used a 5-1 run to make a move, 16-11
>After falling behind 22-17, UCI used kills by Stewart and Carter and a block by Carter and Wolfe to force a Falcon timeout, 22-20
>Another kill by Stewart and a Falcon attack in to the net knotted the set at 22 all
>The next two points went to Air Force to give them set point, but UCI rallied again with a kill by Wolfe, a AFA attack error, an ace by Carrissa MacDonald and a block by Wolfe and Kelly Negron to capture the set 26-24

FOURTH SET
>Air Force was fast out of the gate with a 4-0 lead then four straight gave the Falcons a 10-3 advantage
>UCI would have four mistakes in a 5-0 AFA run to make the lead 17-8 and the Falcons would cruise to the 25-15 win

FIFTH SET
>Two blocks by Onye Ofoegbu and Stewart helped UCI to a 3-1 lead
>Carter would put away three kills to move the Anteater lead to 10-4
>The Falcons would make it interesting, out-scoring UCI 7-3 to close to 13-11 until a Marjama kill and a block by Stewart and Onye Ofoegbu ended the match with a block, 15-11

NOTES
>UCI is now 1-2 in five set matches this season
>Setter Kelly Negron recorded another double-double with 36 set assists and 14 digs to go with three block assists
>Chloe Owens had a team-high 18 digs

UP NEXT
>UCI closes out the tournament against Loyola Chicago at 9:00 a.m. PT Saturday morning.