IRVINE, Calif. – Seton Hall's block was a factor in UC Irvine's 3-0 loss (16-25, 18-25, 24-26) to the Pirates at the Bren Events Center Saturday.

In their second match of the UCI/adidas Invitational, the Anteaters hit .159 (41-19-138) as the Pirates out-blocked UCI 11-2.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Grad student Hunter Riedl led UCI with a career-best 13 kills
>Outside hitters Marianna Bertolone and Emma Spindt and middle blocker Ofure Iselen each recorded six kills. Bertolone also totaled 10 digs
>Libero Campbell Jensen led the Anteaters with 15 digs
>Freshman setter Nicole Feliciano recorded her second double-doubles in as many matches with 17 set assists and 12 digs
>Seton Hall's Madeline Matheny led all players with 16 kills
>Five Pirates recorded three or more blocks with Asli Subsil topping the squad with six

FIRST SET
>A 3-0 run by the Pirates, which including two UCI errors, helped Seton Hall out to an early 9-5 lead
>Seton Hall would out-score UCI 5-1 to expand the lead to 16-9
>The Pirates never lost control winning the set 25-16 while hitting .415

SECOND SET
>A 4-1 spurt which included three UCI attack errors gave Seton Hall an 8-5 advantage
>With the score tied 13-13, Seton Hall blew the set open with five unanswered, 18-15
>UCI would hit .087 in the set as the Pirates won 25-18

THIRD SET
>Four consecutive kills, two by Emma Spindt and one each by Hunter Riedl and Marianna Bertolone gave UCI a 7-6 lead
>Down 13-16, Riedl recorded back-to-back kills to keep the Anteaters close, 15-16
>Two UCI blocks, a Pirate attack error and a kill by Keelan Williams moved UCI in front 18-17
>An ace by Becca Sakoda gave UCI a 21-18 lead, but Seton Hall had three straight kills to knot the score at 21-21
>UCI held set point, 24-23 before the Pirates closed out the match with three straight points, 26-24

NOTES
>Jensen recorded her 16^th consecutive double-digit dig performance
>It's the fewest blocks by a UCI team since the Anteaters had two on Nov. 8, 2019

UP NEXT
UCI concludes the tournament Sunday with a match against San Francisco at 12:00 p.m. in the Bren Center.