IRVINE, Calif. – Joy Umeh had a season-high 24 kills in UC Irvine's 3-2 (21-25, 25-17, 24-26, 25-16, 15-10) victory over CSU Bakersfield at the Bren Events Center Friday.

Umeh led all players and was just two kills shy of her career-high.

The Anteaters, who played their third consecutive five-set match, improves to 12-7 overall and 5-4.

UCI is 9-1 at the Bren Events Center this season.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Middle blocker Onye Ofoegbu had 12 kills, six block assists and three aces, while middle blocker Kiani Stanton added 10 kills and a match-best eight block assists
>Libero Campbell Jensen matched her career-high set a week ago with 29 digs
>Opposite Ellen Veargason tied her career with eight kills to go with six block assists
>Setter Indy DeSmet tied her career-high with three aces, while tallying 20 set assists and 16 digs
>Setter Kelly Negron had 27 set assists, 15 digs and two aces
>UCI totaled 95 digs, the second most this season which is tied for second most by a Big West team
in 2022
>The Anteaters had a season-high 11 aces
>UCI owned a 14-9 block advantage. The 14 blocks are the third most this season
>CSUB (5-16, 2-7) was led by Hana Makonova's 14 kills
>The Roadrunners have also played three straight five-setters, still looking for a win (0-5)
 
FIRST SET
>The Roadrunners started with the first three points until Kiani Stanton had a kill in the middle
>CSUB would extended the lead to 5-1
>UCI would close to 11-9 on a 4-0 spurt which was capped by kills from Joy Umeh and Stanton
>Four consecutive kills by the Roadrunners gave CSUB a healthy 15-10 lead
>UCI stayed in the set with a block by Stanton and Emma Spindt, an attack error by CSUB and a kill by Umeh, 16-13
>Cal State Bakersfield answered again with a pair of kills forcing an Anteater timeout, 18-13
>UCI would go on a 3-0 run which featured kills by Spindt and Marianna Bertolone, 19-17
>After a Stanton kill made it 21-19, CSUB had a kill and UCI attack error and would go on to a 25-21 victory

 SECOND SET
>UCI had a 5-1 start, including a block and kill by Ellen Veargason
>Two aces by Indy DeSmet, another block by Onye Ofoegbu and Veargason and a kill by Ofoegbu extended the lead to 9-1
>A 4-0 spurt ended by a Campbell Jensen ace gave UCI a 17-10 advantage
>The Anteaters would win the set, 25-17 on a Stanton slapback

THIRD SET
>An ace by Kelly Negron, a Roadrunner attack error and a pair of Umeh kills helped UCI start quick again, 4-0
>CSUB would out-score UCI 5-1 on the strength of two aces to move in front 10-8
>A kill and ace by Ofoegbu knotted the score again, 10-10
>A 3-1 run by CSUB gave the Roadrunners a 15-13 advantage then back-to-back kills extended the lead to 17-13
>Three more kills by the Roadrunners pushed the score to 20-15
>CSUB would hold set point 24-17 before UCI came alive with kills by Veargason, Bailey Darnell, Stanton and two by Umeh as well as an ace by Kelly Negron to extend the set 24-24,
A UCI service error and block ended the set for CSU Bakersfield, 26-24

FOURTH SET
>An ace by Kendra MacDonald started a four-point run, 7-3
>Two Ofoegbu aces ended another 4-0 stretch, 11-4
>A kill by Bertolone and two by Umeh made the gap, 14-5
>UCI would win the set as Umeh tipped it over, 25-16

FIFTH SET
>The set started with a block by Stanton and Umeh, followed by  kill by Umeh and a block by K. MacDonald and Stanton, 3-0
>UCI would lead 5-2 before CSUB would score five in a row to move in front 7-5
>A kill by Ofoegbu plus a kill by K. MacDonald and a block by Ofoegbu and Veargason switched the scoreboard again, 8-7
>Ofoegbu would tip the ball over from the leftside then a Roadrunner attack would sail wide to put UCI up 10-8
>CSU Bakersfield responded with the next two, 10-10
>A kill by Ofoegbu and two by Veargason upped the advantage to 13-10
>A block by Veargason and Stanton was followed by a block by Stanton and Bertolone for the match 15-10

NOTES
>DeSmet has recorded four multiple ace matches. She leads the squad with 16
>Jensen has recorded 20 or more digs eight times this season
>Every Anteaters collected a dig
>UCI improves to 3-5 in five set matches with all three wins coming at home

UP NEXT
UCI returns to action tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. in the Bren Events Center hosting Cal Poly. Fans attending the women's match are invited to stay and watch the men's volleyball exhibition versus Hawaii immediately following.