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ADIDAS/UCI INVITATIONAL
Holy Cross vs UC Irvine
Friday, Sept. 2 | 10:00 AM | Bren Events Center
Live Stats  ESPN+

Sacred Heart vs UC Irvine
Friday, Sept. 2 | 7:00 PM | Bren Events Center
Live Stats ESPN+

Dartmouth vs UC Irvine
Saturday, Sept. 3 | 7:00 PM | Bren Events Center
Live Stats  ESPN+
 
FIRST SERVE
The Anteaters will host the Adidas/UCI Invitational Friday and Saturday (Sept. 2-3) at the Bren Events Center.

UCI matches will be streamed on ESPN+ with Robert Espero and Charlie Brande calling the action.

The Bren Events Center accepts mobile-only tickets and has a clear bag policy.
 
Fans are encouraged to use Park by Plate when coming to campus as the Anteater soccer teams will also be in action Friday.
 
INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 2
10:00 a.m.       Holy Cross vs UC Irvine
2:00 p.m.         Sacred Heart vs. Dartmouth
7:00 p.m.         Sacred Heart vs. UC Irvine

Saturday, Sept. 3
10:00 a.m.       Sacred Heart vs Holy Cross
2:00 p.m.         Dartmouth vs. Holy Cross
7:00 p.m.         Dartmouth vs. UC Irvine
 
STORYLINES
UCI started the season with a 1-2 record.

The Anteaters beat DePaul 3-0 after losing to SMU (0-3) and Stephen F. Austin (1-3) at the SMU Doubletree Invitational.

This will be the first meeting with Holy Cross.

The Crusaders dropped the first three matches of 2022 to Central Connecticut (0-3), Iona (1-3) and Providence (0-3) at the Iona Tournament before picking up a 3-0 win at Merrimack Tuesday.

Gracyn Benck was named to the All-Tournament Team. She totaled 20 kills and hit .333

In the win over Merrimack, Holy Cross fired 10 service aces.
 
The Anteaters and Sacred Heart met last season for the first time.

UCI traveled to the Sacred Heart Invitational last season and beat the Big Red, 3-0.

In the last meeting, UCI hit .370 (47-13-92), had a 11 blocks and recorded eight aces.

Ofoegbu led UCI with 12 kills, hitting .786 (12-1-14) with two blocks and three aces.

Joy Umeh and Marianna Bertolone followed Ofoegbu with nine kills apiece. Bertolone also had a team-high eight digs.

Sarah Ciszek had a team-high six kills, 17 set assists and eight digs for SHU.

Ciszek, a native of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., was named Northeast Conference Player of the Week after registering triple-doubles in two of Sacred Heart's three matches against Nebraska Omaha (43 assists, 13 kills, 12 digs) and Winthrop (36 assists, 11 kills, 13 digs). Ciszek averaged 7.86 assists, 2.44 digs and 1.89 kills per set while adding five aces and an impressive .431 hitting percentage at the Carolina Classic hosted by South Carolina.

Sacred Heart is 1-2 heading into the tournament.

UCI beat Dartmouth 3-0 in the lone meeting on Sept. 14, 1998.

The Big Green will open the season in Irvine.

Last season, UCI was 10-4 at the Bren Events Center.

Middle blocker Onye Ofoegbu was named to the SMU Doubletree Invitational.

Ofoegbu averaged 1.70 blocks per set over the first three matches, posting a season-high nine block assists in the win over DePaul after rejecting six versus Stephen F. Austin. Offensively, she had three of the four top kill totals over the weekend. She had 12 in the first match against SMU, then 15 versus SFA and 17 versus the Blue Demons. For the week, the junior averaged 4.40 kills, while hitting .473.

Ofeogbu leads the team and Big West with a 4.40 kill average followed by Joy Umeh at 3.90 and Marianna Bertolone at 2.60 kills per set.

Libero Campbell Jensen averaged 5.40 digs per set in her Anteater debut and tops the Big West. She started with 15 digs against SMU then had a season-high 21 digs versus SFA and 18 against DePaul.

The Anteaters lead the Big West in kills (14.90) and assists (13.60) per set and are second in hitting percentage (.245), digs (15.80) and blocks (2.95).

Next week, UCI will host its second tournament, entertaining Weber State and Gonzaga Sept. 8-10 as part of the UCI/CSF Invitational.