NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – UC Irvine clinched a spot in the Big West Championship with a 3-0 victory (25-20, 25-23, 25-22) over CSUN at Premier America Credit Union Arena Friday.

The Anteaters improve to 10-18 overall and 8-9 in the Big West. While seeding is yet to be determined, the Anteaters will play in a first round match Wednesday (Nov. 22) at the Walter Pyramid.

Opposite Hunter Riedl led all players with 20 kills, her second 20+ kill performance of the year. She tied her career-high with seven digs.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Middle blocker Isabella Scarlett had 10 kills, hitting .450 (10-1-20)
>Middle blocker Ella Gardiner hit .615 on nine kills and just one error on 13 swings
>Outside hitter Emma Napoleon chipped in six kills
>Libero Campbell Jensen had a match-best 13 digs  
>Setter Nicole Feliciano hit .800 (4-0-5) and totaled 43 set assists and eight digs
>CSUN was led by Taylor Hunter with 12 kills
>UCI out-hit CSUN .343-.255, but the Matadors out-blocked the Anteaters 6-2

FIRST SET
>UCI went on a 5-1 run which included three Matadors errors and two kills by Isabella Scarlett to open a 13-8 lead
>Consecutive kills by Hunter Riedl and Ella Gardiner made it 18-13
>UCI took advantage of four consecutive CSUN errors to go up 23-15 only to watch the Matadors peel off the next four to force a UCI timeout, 23-19
>Out of the break, Reidl had a kill to stop the momentum then had another for the set-winner, 25-20

SECOND SET
>A 4-1 spurt by CSUN put the Matadors in front 12-9
>UCI answered on a CSUN service error followed by kills by Scarlett and Riedl, 12-12
>The Anteaters would hold a 21-19 lead only to watch CSUN score the next three and take a 22-21 lead
>Scarlett took over with a solo and assisted block to move UCI back in control 23-22
>Kills by Emma Napoleon and Riedl ended the set, 25-23

THIRD SET
>Back-to-back kills by Gardiner and Nicole Feliciano gave UCI an 8-6 edge
>Kills by Riedl and Scarlett opened a 14-10 margin
>CSUN rallied on a kill, ace, block and UCI ball handling error to the knot the score at 14s
>A pair of kills by Gardiner and one by Riedl helped UCI to the 20-18 advantage
>CSUN would creep to 24-22 before a kill by Kendra MacDonald ended the match, 25-23

NOTES
>UCI's .343 hitting percentage (52-15-108) is the third best this season
>The Anteaters did not record an ace for the first time this season

UP NEXT
UCI will close out the regular season at Cal State Bakersfield starting at 2:00 p.m. from the Icardo Center.