SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – UC Irvine lost 3-1 to UC Santa Barbara Sunday in the second match of the day at Robertson Gym.

The non-conference match scores were 25-15, 16-25, 25-21, 25-22. No. 4 UCSB remains undefeated (4-0), while No. 11 UCI is still looking for their first win (0-4).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Senior Joel Schneidmiller led the Anteaters with 14 kills and four aces
>Middle blocker Scott Stadick had a season-high 11 kills to go with three digs and two blocks. He hit .529 on the night (11-2-17)
>Freshman Francesco Sani added 10 kills, while junior Jonny Bowles had eight kills and five digs
>Freshman Dylan Zhai totaled 38 set assists and five digs, both career-highs
>UCSB had a trio of players with double-figure kills Randy DeWeese (11), Ryan Wilcox (10) and Roy McFarland (10)
> The Gauchos had 10 aces and 35 digs compared to UCI's seven aces and 24 digs

COACH KNIFFIN SAID
On the team today:
"This was an incredibly productive trip for our team. We played against a very clean Santa Barbara team in their gym and we got better as the day went on. They were good all day and I felt like we improved. I know it's a short season, but relatively speaking its early so think we are in a good position."

On freshman setter Dylan Zhai:
"You trust Scott will get blocks, you trust Joel will have big nights from the service line like he did tonight, I trust the discipline and effort you will get form Jonny, Patrick and Cole so you know they will be good down the stretch, but the fact that you can have a freshman setter come in and have total ownership, not always perfect execution, but total ownership of our offense is just awesome."

FIRST SET
>UCI looked good early with a 6-3 lead on the strength of kills by Francesco Sano, Joel Schneidmiller and two by Scott Stadick
>The Gauchos would score the next four, which included three consecutive kills to put UCSB on top 7-6  
>An ace and a kill by UCSB combined with a UCI attack error moved the margin to 12-8
>Another ace and two UCI attack errors forced an Anteater timeout as the Gauchos would go up 17-10
>One highlight of the set was Garo Barsemian coming off the bench to fire an ace
>UC Santa Barbara would win the set 25-15
>UCSB hit .550, while the Anteaters hit just .087

SECOND SET
>A pair of aces by Ryan Wilcox gave UCSB the 6-3 lead
>Schneidmiller then took over following a Stadick kill, the outside hitter fired three straight aces to take a 7-6 lead. Sani had a kill before Schneidmiller delivered a missile from the backrow, 9-6
>Schneidmiller's tough serving continued leading to a kill on an overpass for Stadick and a block by Stadick and Sani, 11-6
>Two more kills by Sani plus two blocks by Patrick Vorenkamp and a kill by Jonny Bowles made the advantage 17-8 for the Anteaters
>Stadick would put down the set-winner, 25-16. The middle blocker had five kills in that frame

THIRD SET
>An ace and a kill gave UCSB the 8-5 advantage
>A Gaucho error was followed by a Stadick ace and a kill by Vorenkamp, 8-8
>UCSB recorded the next four points, 12-8
>UCI would go on a 5-1 run that included kills by Schneidmiller and Sani, 14-13
>A kill by Sani was followed by a Gaucho attack that went wide, 18-16
>UCSB then out-scored UCI 9-3 to close out the set, 25-21

SET 4
>A 3-1 run which included a solo block by Vorenkamp and two kills by Bowles gave UCI a narrow 10-9 lead
>A 4-1 run helped move the Gauchos in front 21-18 and force a UCI timeout
>Down 22-18, UCi had a kill by Dylan Zhai, another ace by Schneidmiller, a kill by Stadick and a UCSB attack error to inch to 23-22
>Following a Santa Barbara timeout, a kill by Brandon Hicks and a block by Randy DeWeese and Keenan Sanders ended the set 25-22

NOTES
>Redshirt freshman Cole Gillis started at libero in both games today, totaling nine digs over seven sets
>Schneidmiller has recorded at least one ace in each match this season

UP NEXT
UCI will open Big West Conference action hosting UC San Diego Thursday (Mar. 11) at 4:00 p.m. in the Bren Events Center.