IRVINE, Calif. – Middle blocker Onye Ofoegbu had a season-high 19 kills in UC Irvine's 3-2 win (23-25, 25-12, 23-25, 25-23, 15-10) over CSUN at the Matadome.

After losing the first set, Ofoegbu took over with six kills in each of the next two sets and four in the critical fourth set, ending with a season-best 19. She had six block assists, jumping into eighth all-time in UCI block assists with 277.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Sophomore Marianna Bertolone had 13 kills and 10 digs, her fifth double of the year
>Junior Joy Umeh added 11 kills
>Freshman Kendra MacDonald made the start and totaled a career-high 10 kills and match and career-best 15 digs. She also fired two aces
>Setter Kelly Negron posted her sixth consecutive double-double with 29 set assists and 11 digs
>Rightside hitter Ellen Veargason tallied seven kills and six total blocks (1 solo, 5 assisted)
>UCI hit .286, the highest percentage by the Anteaters in the last 12 matches
>The Anteaters (14-8, 7-5)  held a 12-9 blocking advantage
>CSUN (7-17, 2-10) Carisa Barron and Taylor Orshoff with 14 kills, apiece

FIRST SET
>In a closely contested set, a kill and service ace by the Matadors moved CSUN to a 20-17 lead late
>Consecutive kills by Onye Ofoegbu and Kiani Stanton plus a CSUN attack error knotted the score 20-20
>A pair of kills ended the set for the Matadors, 25-23

SECOND SET
>UCI scored six in a row, capped by a kill by Ellen Veargason, 8-2
>Joy Umeh had two kills in a 5-0 spurt to widen the gap to 15-5
>UCI would roll to a 25-12 victory

THIRD SET
>UCI would look like they would cruise to a win at 20-12, before the Matadors came alive, out-scoring UCI 7-1 to close within 21-19
>After an Ofoegbu kill, CSUN would score the next five on three kills, an ace and a block to move in front 24-22
>After an attack error, CSUN ended the comeback with a kill, 25-23

FOURTH SET
>CSUN would use a pair of kills and another ace to take a 5-2 advantage
>An ace by Campbell Jensen tied the set and a kill by Umeh followed, 10-9
>An ace and UCI attack error helped CSUN sneak out to a 17-15 lead, but the Anteaters answered with a kill by Bertolone and two by Umeh giving UCI the 18-17 lead
>A kill by Ofoegbu and a Matador attack error extended the lead to 22-19
>UCI would hold a 23-20 lead before the Matadors rallied again scoring the next three to knot the score at 23-23
>Back-to-back kills by Bertolone and Stanton won the match 25-23 and extended the match

FIFTH SET
>Kills by Bertolone and Ofoegbu and a block by Veargason and Stanton gave UCI a 7-3 lead
>An ace by Kelly Negron and three consecutive Matador attack errors made it 11-5
>CSUN would score the next two, but that was a close as they would get as the teams would trade points for the 15-10 UCI victory

NOTES
>This is UCI eighth five-set match this season, winning half
>Negron has 11 double-doubles on the season

UP NEXT
>UCI returns home to the Bren Events Center to host UC Riverside Friday (Nov. 3) at 7:00  p.m. and UC Davis Saturday (Nov.5) at 5:00 p.m