IRVINE, Calif. – No. 13 UC Irvine could not hold off No. 7 Long Beach State, falling 3-2 (28-30, 21-25, 25-18, 25-19, 15-7) at the Bren Events Center Saturday.

LBSU out-hit (.309-.183), out-blocked (12-8), out-dug (52-46) and held a 7-5 ace advantage over UCI. Long Beach State improves to 3-1 overall and in Big West action, while the Anteaters drop to 2-8 on the year and 2-4 in conference play.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>For the ninth time this season, senior Joel Schneidmiller led UCI in kills with 16. The outside hitter added eight kills and two aces
>Freshman Doug Dahm bettered his career-high set last night with 14 kills, while totaling eight digs
>Middle blocker Connor Campbell bettered his personal-best with seven total blocks (3 solo and 2 assisted)
>Senior Scott Stadick had a season-high 14 kills, one shy of his career-high
>Libero Cole Gillis had a career and team-high 13 digs
 >LBSU's Spencer Olivier led all players with 20 kills

FIRST SET
>A kill and block assist for Doug Dahm helped UCI to an early 6-2 lead
>LBSU would go on a 5-1 run to tie the set at 7-7
>A kill and a UCI attack error gave The Beach its first significant lead 11-9
>UCI rallied with a kill by Joel Schneidmiller, a LBSU attack error and two kills by Dahm, 13-11
>Sani came off the bench to fire an ace to put the Anteaters up 19-17
>UCI would take a 22-20 lead only to watch LBSU tie it at 22 all
>The teams would trade points until Long Beach State had a kill and a UCI blocking error for set point 24-23
>A Schneidmiller kill out of the backrow insured extra play, 24-24
>A kill by Scott Stadick and a block by Stadick and Jonny Bowles moved UCI to set point 28-27, but the Beach fought it off with a kill
>A LBSU service error and a Schneidmiller ace gave UCI the set, 25-21

SECOND SET
>Consecutive kills by Dahm, the last on an overpass gave UCI the 5-4 advantage
>LBSU responded with the next three to go ahead 7-5
>Back-to-back kills by Dahm pushed UCI ahead 16-15
>The teams would be tied two more times before, three straight LBSU attack errors, the last a block by Connor Cambpell and Schneidmiller moved UCI in front 20-17
>After LBSU scored the next two, Schneidmiller unloaded down the line, 21-19
>At 23-21, a Beach service error and a kill by Dahm gave UCI set point 
>Scheidmiller served up another ace for the set winner 25-21

THIRD SET
>LBSU would lead 15-9 at the media timeout
>The Beach would then build an 18-13 advantage
>UCI would rally to close within 19-16, but after a LBSU timeout, The Beach scored the next two points to remain in control 21-16
>LBSU would win the set on a Simon Anderson kill, 25-18
>Long Beach State would hit .591 with new setter Ryan Poole in the match

FOURTH SET
>An ace by Clarke Goodbold gave LBSU the early 4-2 lead
>Behind the tough serving of Schneidmiller, UCI was back in the lead 5-4
>Two aces by Poole gave The Beach the 12-7 advantage
>The third solo block of the day for Campbell brought UCI to within 12-9
>The Beach would extend the lead to 14-10 before Zhai won a joust to try and spark the Anteaters
>After UCI snuck within 14-13, LBSU responded with the next two 16-13
>UCI out-hit the Beach but Long Beach won the set 25-19 to force a fifth set

FIFTH SET
>LBSU started with an ace and built a 4-1 lead
>UCI had a kill by Schneidmiller and LBSU attack error to get back in the set, 4-3
>The Beach would score the next three and never look back on their way to a 15-7 victory

NOTES
>UCI is 1-2 in five set matches this season
>Campbell is the third Anteater to record three solo blocks this season (Patrick Vorenkamp, Scott Stadick)
>Schneidmiller has recorded an ace in all but one match this season
>Opposite Jonny Bowles added seven kills and five digs, while setter Dylan Zhai had 42 set assists and nine digs

UP NEXT
UCI will play a trio of matches against UC Santa Barbara next week. The Anteaters travel to Santa Barbara on Wednesday (Mar. 31) for a 4:00 p.m. match at Robertson Gym then head back to Irvine to host the Gauchos Friday and Saturday (Apr. 2&3) at 4:00 p.m. in the Bren Events Center. The final match of the week is a non-conference contest.