POCATELLO, Idaho -- UC Irvine battle back from a 0-2 deficit but couldn't hold off UTEP in a 3-2 loss at the Bengal Invitational.

The Miners won their first match of the year from Reed Gym 25-23, 25-23, 21-25, 21-25, 15-10. UCI evens its record to 1-1.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Sophomore outside hitter Joy Umeh led all players with a career-high 18 kills
>Middle blocker Onye Ofoegbu followed with 15 kills and two total blocks
>Marianna Bertolone improved on her career-best with 11 kills and eight digs from the outside
>Middle blocker Kiani Stanton matched her career-high eight kills. She didn't commit an  error, hitting .800 (8-0-10). The redshirt sophomore also added a career-best five total blocks
>Libero Sofia Skukan bettered her career-high with a team-best 17 digs followed by outside hitter Grace Colburn who improved on her dig total with 13 to go with six kills
>Setter Kelly Negron totaled 39 set assists, nine digs and an ace
>In her second match as an Anteater, opposite Ellen Veargason posted six kills and four total blocks
>UTEP's Yasso Amin and Paulin Perez Rosas each added 15 kills, while Alyssa Sianez had a match-high 18 digs   

TURNING POINTS
FIRST SET
>After UTEP scored the first two points of the set, UCI would take a 5-3 lead with the help of three consecutive Miner attack errors
>After the Miners would get within one, UCI tacked on three straight points, two by way of a kill and block assist by Marianna Bertolone, to take the 17-13 advantage
>UTEP battled back on a 7-2 run, which included an ace and a block to win the set 25-23
>The Miners fired three aces in the win  

SECOND SET
>The Miners once again came out strong, scoring the first three points
>UTEP would open a 9-4 lead on a kill by Yasso Amin
>UCI began to chip away, recording kills by Ellen Veargason, Bertolone and Joy Umeh to close to 9-7
>Kills by Umeh and Grace Colburn plus a UTEP attack error tied the set at 10 all
>A pair of UTEP blocks put the Miners back in control 13-10 and they would extend the margin to 16-11
>A kill by Veargason was followed by a kill and block assist by Kiani Stanton to inch the Anteaters to 19-17
>UTEP would score the next two, but UCI wouldn't go away using a kill by Umeh and an attack error to keep close, 22-20
>The Miners would have set point 24-21 before the Anteaters scored two,  a Miner error and a kill by Bertolone, 24-23
>Paulina Perez Rosas would end the set with a kill, 25-23

SET THREE
>UTEP jumped out quickly, 4-1, on the strength of two aces
>A 5-1 run by UCI gave the Anteaters their first lead 7-6. All five of the points came on Miner miscues, including a receiving error on a Kelly Negron ace
>Back-to-back kills by Stanton and Colburn gave the Anteaters a 9-7 cushion
>After UTEP quickly tied it a 9-9, UCI used a kill by Stanton, a block by Onye Ofoegbu and a Miner attack error to open a 12-9 advantage
>Consecutive kills by Ofoegbu and another UTEP error extended the lead to 16-12
>UTEP would record three straight kills to stay near, 16-15, only to watch UCI score five of their own 21-15
>Ofoegbu would put away the set winner, 25-21
>UTEP hit .079 (12-9-38) for the set

SET FOUR
>The Anteaters scored the first three points then UTEP scored the next three, 3-3
>Another 3-0 run by UTEP gave the Miners a 10-7 advantage
>Kills by Veargason and Bertolone tied the score at 10-10
>UTEP would out-sore UCI 6-2 to move out to a 19-15 advantage
>A kill by Bertolone was followed by two more from Umeh forcing a UTEP timeout, 19-18
>UCI kept rolling with two more kills by Bertolone and one by Stanton to take the 21-19 lead
>A pair of Umeh kills was followed by one from Colburn to force a fifth set, 25-21
>Anteaters hit .500 (18-2-32)

FIFTH SET
>UTEP wasted no time taking a 3-0 lead
>UCI would get to 5-4 on a UTEP service error
>A kill by Bertolone, a Stanton block and an Umeh kill tied the game at 7 all
>After trading points, UTEP would go ahead 11-8 with the help of two UCI errors
>The Miners would end the set on a Kenidy Howard kill 15-10
>After hitting .500 in the fourth set, UCI hit .056 (6-5-18)

NOTES
>The Miners serving was key, topping UCI 7-1
>The Anteaters had balanced scoring for the second straight match with seven Anteaters notching at least one kill

UP NEXT
UCI will face Seattle U tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. in their final match of the tournament