IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine took down CSUN 3-1 (25-14, 25-18, 21-25, 26-24) at the Bren Events Center Saturday.

The 12th-ranked Anteaters (2-5, 2-1) out-hit the Matadors .300 to .179. CSUN, who was playing their first match of the year, helped the Anteaters with 21 service errors.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Senior Joel Schneidmiller had a match-best 19.5 points, recording his first double-double of the year with 14 kills and 10 digs. He had three aces and five block assists
>Freshman Francesco Sani tied his career-high with 13 kills to go with five digs
>Middle blocker Scott Stadick posted seven kills and a match-high seven blocks
>Redshirt Freshman Doug Dahm put-away five kills and had three digs
>CSUN was led by Daniel Wetter and Griffin Walters with 11 kills each
 
COACH KNIFFIN SAID
"We need to get steadier in all facets of the game. You can't just win with attacks, or win with defense, can't just win with just blocking. We need all of those things from all of those guys on all plays. We are still working on how to do that consistently."

FIRST SET
>UCI started with a 3-1 lead on a pair of kills by Francesco Sani and one by Scott Stadick
>An ace by Alexandre Nsakanda gave the Anteaters a 6-3 advantage
>A pair of Stadick kills and two Matador attack errors helped move the UCI advantage to 13-7
>Four consecutive tough serves by Joel Schneidmiller, the first an ace, led to four consecutive points for UCI, 18-9
>A block by Stadick and Brian Garcia was followed by a CSUN attack error to give UCI the set 25-14
>UCI did not commit a hitting error in the set, out-hitting the Matadors .611 (11-0-18) to .167 (9-5-24)

SECOND SET
>UCI jumped out to an early 6-2 lead with the help of two CSUN errors and three Schneidmiller kills
>An ace by Griffin Walters  and a kill by Kyle Hobus closed the gap to 14-12
>Following the 15-point TV timeout, a kill by Sani and an ace by Nsakanda put the Anteaters in front 17-12
>The Matadors would go on a 5-1 run to get within 18-17, but a service error stopped the momentum
>A big block by Schneidmiller and Stadick was followed by a Stadick and Brian Garcia rejection to move the margin to 21-17
>UCI would win the set 25-19

THIRD SET
>The Matadors led 3-0 early in the third set
>CSUN extended its lead to 7-3 on a Daniel Wetter kill
>A block by Stadick and Schneidmiller started a 4-0 run to close within 13-12
>The Matadors would out-score UCI 9-2 to open a 22-14 lead
>UCI rallied on a kill by Stadick followed by two more from Schneidmiller 23-19, but CSUN would score three of the next four points to win the set 25-21

FOURTH SET
>CSUN would hold an early 4-2 lead
>Doug Dahm recorded his first collegiate kill to get UCI within one (5-4)
>UCI would knot the score at 7-7 on a Schneidmiller kill and Matador attack error
>Two kills and a block from Dahm plus a kill by Connor Campbell gave UCI a 17-14 lead
>CSUN would tie the score at 18-18 then four straight on the two aces from Macie Ptaszynski to take a 23-22 lead
>The match would end when UCI had a kill by Stadick then a block by Stadick and Nsakanda and a Matador attack that sailed long, 26-24

NOTES
>Alexandre Nsakanda tied his career-high with nine digs and had a season-high three aces
>UCI out-blocked the Matadors 10-8, the third time this season the Anteaters have out-blocked an opponent
>Both teams fired seven aces, which matches UCI's season-high
>Connor Campbell made his first career start, adding a kill and two block assists

UP NEXT
>UCI will travel to Northridge tomorrow (Mar.21) to take on CSUN at 4:00 p.m.