RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UC Irvine dropped a 3-2 match at UC Riverside Thursday at the SRC Arena.

The Highlanders would come back after being down 2-1 to take the final two sets (22-25, 25-21, 14-25, 25-21, 15-12).

UC Irvine (14-9, 7-6) has played three consecutive five set matches.

Libero Carly Richter had a career-high 25 digs which is tied for 15^th most in the Big West this season.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>UCI was led by sophomore Onye Ofoegbu with 19 kills, one shy of her career-high. She also had a team-best three block assists
>Sophomore Joy Umeh added 14 kills, while Emma Spindt, Carrissa MacDonald and Carly Moreno each had seven kills. The seven kills were a career-high for Spindt and Moreno and a season-high for MacDonald
>Defensive specialist Bailey Darnell also posted a career-best 11 digs
>Setter Caitlin Kikta made the start and recorded 22 set assists and 11 digs
>UC Riverside (6-17, 2-11) was led by Amarachi Osuji with 17 kills and 23 digs

TURNING POINTS
FIRST SET
>UCI held a 7-3 lead, but the Highlanders would tie it at 9-9
>UC Riverside would lead by two on three occasions, but UCI would battle back to tie it at 20-20 on a Highlander service error and regain the lead on a Grace Colburn kill, 21-20
>An attack and rotation error by UCR plus two Onye Ofeogbu kills helped UCI to a 25-23 victory

SECOND SET
>UCR jumped out to an early 5-1 lead
>The Highlanders would hold the 17-11 advantage before the Anteaters would score the next five, all on UCR errors to get within 17-16
>UC Riverside answered with the next four to regain control 21-16 and went on to a 25-21 victory
>The Anteaters hit -.036 (4-5-28)

THIRD SET
>Three straight kills by Ofoegbu helped UCI out to a 5-0 advantage
>Back-to-back kills by Carly Moreno opened the gap to 8-2 and an ace by Caitlin Kikta made it 10-2
>UCR scored four in a row to get to 10-7
>A block and kill by Ofoegbu increased the lead to 13-7
>Ofoegbu continued to dominate the set with a kill and an ace to more the margin to 17-8
>A kill by Ofoegbu ended the set 25-14

FOURTH SET
>UCR scored three in a row to move out to a 10-6 lead
>The Highlanders continued to lead 17-10 when the Anteaters rallied on a 7-2 run, which included four in a row to close within 19-17 and force a timeout
>After Kelly Negron had an ace (19-18), UCR out-scored UCI 3-1 to lead 22-19
>The Highlanders would take the set 25-21

FIFTH SET
>A block and kill by UCR plus an Anteater attack error gave the Highlanders a 5-2 lead
>A kill by Moreno, an ace by Negron and a kill by Emma Spindt on an overpass tied the set at 7-7
>A kill by Spindt would knot the set at 12-12, but that would be the last time UCI would score, watching the Highlanders win on two Anteater attack errors and a kill, 15-12

NOTES
>UCI's last three losses have come in five sets
>Carly Richter logged back-to-back 20-dig matches
>Once again UCI had a team effort, playing 16 players

UP NEXT
UCI will travel to UC Davis Saturday (Nov. 6) for a 7:00 p.m. match