IRVINE, Calif. – Freshman Ellen Veargason put away a career-high 13 kills to help UC Irvine to a 3-1 victory (25-21, 25-22, 18-25, 25-18) over UC Riverside at the Bren Events Center Saturday.

Veargason, an opposite, recorded double-figure kills for the first time plus added a career-tying five blocks.

Sophomore outside hitter Joy Umeh had a match-high 14 kills on the heels of her 20-kill performance Friday.

UCI improves to 10-4 overall and 3-1 in the Big West. UCR will continue to look for its first league win (0-4) going to 4-10 overall.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>UC Riverside had 13 aces which are tied for the 11^th most nationally in a four set match in 2021
>The Anteaters had a season-high nine aces in the win. Four different Anteaters (Colburn (2), Bertolone (2), Richter (2), DeSmet (3) contributed
>UCI libero Carly Richter was two shy of her career-best with a team-high 14 digs
>Outside hitter Grace Colburn had seven kills, two aces and a tied her career-high with 13 digs
>Deja Bickers and Amarachi Osuji topped the Highlanders with 11 kills each. Osuji ended the night with eight aces, which is tied for third most in the country this year

TURNING POINTS
SET ONE
>A kill and a block assist by Onye Ofoegbu was followed by a Highlander error to give the Anteaters a 6-3 advantage
>A pair of kills by UCR knotted the score at 7 all
>UCI used an ace by Carly Richter, a kill by Grace Colburn and two Highlander attack errors to force a UCR timeout, 13-9
>Kiani Stanton took over the net with a block and a kill on an overpass, 20-15
>UCR rallied on a kill, ace, block and UCI attack error to close withing 21-19
>Joy Umeh put away the set winner, 25-21  

SET TWO
>Marianna Bertolone had back-to-back aces to give UCI a 3-1 lead
>UCI would score four straight, including a kill by Ellen Veargason and an ace by Colburn, 9-5
>A Bertolone kill out of the back row was followed by another Richter ace to force a Highlander timeout, 16-10
>The ball hit the floor after coming in contact with the hands of Ofoegbu and Veargason, 19-14
>Amarachi Osuji would fire three aces to get UC Riverside as close as 23-21
>Once again, Umeh had a kill for the set winner, 25-22

SET THREE
>An Ofoegbu kill gave UCI a 5-2 lead, but Osuji stepped back to the line and had three more aces to help UCR take their first lead of the match 7-5
>The Highlanders had a four-point spurt, three of them UCI errors to open the advantage to 18-13
>UCR would out-score UCI 5-2 to end the set, 25-18

SET FOUR
>The Highlanders would start with a quick 4-0 lead
>Another ace put UCR ahead 8-4 and another 10-5
>Riverside held the 15-12 lead at the media timeout before UCI caught fire with a kill by Umeh and two by Veargason to tie the score at 15-15
>After a UCR attack error, UCI had its first lead (16-15) and the Highlanders called timeout, but that didn't slow down UCI with two aces by Indy DeSmet and another kill by Veargason, 19-15
>A kill by Stanton ended the set 25-18 and the match 3-1

NOTES
>UCI's 62 digs are the third most this season
>The Anteaters out-blocked the Highlanders, 7-6
>UCI improves to 35-11 all-time

UP NEXT
UCI will travel to UC San Diego Tuesday (Oct. 5) before returning home to host Hawaii Saturday at 5:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center. Tickets for the match are available HERE