Box Score LOS ANGELES, Calif. – No. 5 UC Irvine tied its season-high in blocking as the Anteaters beat USC 3-1 (25-22, 25-14, 13-25, 27-25) at the North Gym Saturday night.

UCI (5-3) had 13.0 blocks, led by middle blocker Scott Stadick with a season-best 11 total blocks on a career-high 10 block assists. 11 total blocks are the most by any player in the country this year. The senior also had two aces.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Opposite Alexandre Nsakanda led UCI with 14 kills, hitting .522 (14-2-23) and a rocketing a career-high four aces
>Outside hitter Joel Schneidmiller added 12 kills and two aces
>UCI had a season-high nine aces, but watched USC record nine as well
>The Trojans were led by Adam Flood with 13 kills and two aces

TURNING POINTS
FIRST SET
>UCI scored four unanswered on two kills by Joel Schneidmiller, a block by Scott Stadick and a kill by Alexandre Nsakanda to take a 12-9 lead
>Following a Trojan timeout, USC bounced back with a pair of points to stay close (12-11), only to watch Schneimiller record a kill and an ace, 14-11
> A 4-1 Trojan run closed the gap to 20-19
>UCI would win the set on a kill by Nsakanda and a Trojan attack error, 25-22

SECOND SET
>Three straight Trojan attack errors gave UCI a quick 3-0 lead, but it was short lived as USC scored three in a row
>With UCI leading 5-4, the Anteaters used two Stadick service aces plus two USC errors to take an 8-4 advantage
>A kill by JB Kam and an ace by Nsakanda forced a USC timeout, 10-5
>Four in a row by the Anteaters which included a block by Stadick and Kam and an ace by Schneidmiller put UCI in front 17-10
>UCI would go on to take the set 25-14

THIRD SET
>A block and an ace by Sean Dennis gave UCI an 8-7 advantage
>Back-to-back Trojan aces helped put USC back in front 13-11
>A 11-0 spurt by USC which had three more aces and two blocks increased the Trojan lead to 23-12
>USC would win the set 25-13, hitting .500 (11-2-18) with five aces and three blocks in the frame
>UCI hit -.048 (4-5-21)

FOURTH SET
>Four consecutive Anteater attack errors let USC sneak ahead 14-10
>A block by Stadick and Schneidmiller and a bad set by the Trojans got UCI within 20-17
>The Trojans would hold a 23-20 lead before a pair of kills and a pair of aces by Nsakanda tied the set at 24-24
>The Anteaters would score the final three points on a block by Brian Garcia and Aiden Wolf-Nielsen and two Schnedimiller kills, 27-25

NOTES
>UCI had a season-low 21 digs
>UCI had a season-high 17 service errors

UP NEXT
>UCI travels to Hawaii for three matches, beginning on Thursday (Feb. 6)versus No. 13 Concordia at 6:00 p.m. PT. The Anteaters and Eagles met earlier this week with UCI capturing the 3-1 victory.