IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine won its fifth straight match with a 3-0 sweep (25-18, 25-14, 28-26) of Weber State at the Bren Events Center Thursday.

The Anteaters, who haven't dropped a set since Aug. 26, improve to 5-2 on the year, while Weber State goes to 4-3.

UCI out-hit (.258-.130), out-dug (61-52) and out-blocked (9-7) the Wildcats.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Joy Umeh led all players with 17 kills, hitting .485 (17-1-33). She also added four block assists
>Middle blocker Onye Ofoegbu, the Big West Offensive Player of the Week, had 12 kills and four block assists
>Middle blocker Kiani Stanton tied her career-best with a team-high five block assists to go with three kills
>Libero Campbell Jensen matched her career-best with a match-high 21 digs
>Sophomore Marianna Bertolone and freshman Keelan Williams, who was making her Anteater debut, each pitched in seven kills
>Setter Indy DeSmet tallied 18 set assists and 11 digs, her third double-double of the season
>Weber State was led by Dani Richins 13 kills and 17 digs

FIRST SET
>Kills by Joy Umeh and Kiani Stanton and two Wildcat attack errors helped UCI out to a 4-1 lead
>Weber State would close to 9-7, but UCI answered with a kill by Onye Ofoegbu and a block by Stanton and Keelan Williams, 11-7
>Consecutive kills by Ofoegbu, Williams and Marianna Bertolone opened a 20-14 advantage
>Three straight kills by the Wildcats kept them in the set, 21-18 only to watch UCI answer again on kills by Bertolone and Umeh and back-to-back attack errors by Weber State to hand UCI a 25-18 victory

SECOND SET
>UCI took command quickly, using three kills by Umeh, two by Ofoegbu plus a block by Ofoegbu and Williams to take a 6-1 lead
>Two more blocks by Ofeogbu, one with Bertolone and one with Spindt, was followed by an ace by Spindt prompting a Wildcat timeout, 9-2
>Ofoegbu would add two more kills, crushing the second on an overpass, 19-12
>UCI would rack up five blocks in the set and win 25-14

THIRD SET
>A 5-1 run by Weber State gave the Wildcats a 9-7 advantage
>Six unanswered by Weber State, four on kills and two UCI errors moved the lead to 15-9
>With Bailey Darnell at the service line, UCI came alive scoring four in a row to narrow the deficit to 13-15
>Trailing 15-18, UCI had kills by Umeh, Ofoegbu and Indy DeSmet plus a Wildcat attack error to tie the score at 18 all
>Weber State would score the next four, all on UCI errors to regain control 23-19
>UCI wouldn't go away scoring three in a row, including kills by Ofoegbu and Williams to force a Weber State timeout, 22-23
>Weber state would hold set point, 24-22 before the Anteaters would tie the set on a kill by Williams and a block by Stanton and Bertolone, 24-24
>A block by Umeh and Stanton would hold off another set point then a kill by Umeh would turn the tables, 26-25
>The teams would trade points until Umeh took control, putting away a pair of kills, 28-26

NOTES
>The last time UCI won five straight was Sept. 28-Oct. 13, 2018
>All but two players recorded a dig for the Anteaters, including Bailey Darnell's season-high five
>Sophomore Emma Spindt had the lone ace of the night, her second of the year

UP NEXT
Weber State and Gonzaga will meet tomorrow at noon before UCI takes on Gonzaga Saturday (Sept. 10) at 1:00 p.m.