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WAC/Big West Showdown — Fullerton, Calif.
UC Irvine vs Cal Baptist
Friday, Sept. 15 | 3:00 PM | Titan Gym
Livestats

UC Irvine vs Grand Canyon
Saturday, Sept. 16 | 2:00 PM | Titan Gym
Livestats

FIRST SERVE
UC Irvine will wrap up non-conference action at the WAC/Big West Showdown held in Titan Gym Friday and Saturday (Sept. 15-16).

The Anteaters will take on Cal Baptist Friday at 3:00 p.m. followed by Grand Canyon on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The Titans will play the one of the WAC teams each night at 6:00 p.m.

STORYLINES
WAC teams enter the week with a 10-8 record while the Big West squads are 3-13.

UCI owns a 2-7 mark, dropping the last four matches.

Last week, the Anteaters could not hold a lead, falling to No. 13 Washington State and No. 8 BYU (3-0) as well as Towson State, 3-1.

UCI was out-blocked 12-36 and out-hit .083-.368 over the last three matches.

The Anteaters haven't out-blocked an opponent this season.

UCI fired 17 aces over the last three matches. Nine different players have recorded an ace this season.

Freshman setter Nicole Feliciano was named to the Cougar Challenge All-Tournament Team after averaging 1.10 kills, 5.50 set assists and 2.30 digs over the tournament.
  
She played all the way around against Towson where she had a career and team-best eight kills, 14 digs and two aces to go with a block assist. She is fifth in the Big West in set assists with a 7.23 mark overall.  

The Anteaters are second in the Big West in assists (11.64) and digs (15.36) and are third in kills (12.48).

UCI had a Big West-best 69 kills in the season opener versus New Mexico.

Outside hitter Marianna Bertolone leads the team and is 11th in the Big West with a 2.70 kills per set average. The junior had a career record 24 kills against New Mexico, the most kills by a Big West player this season. She also leads the team with 12 aces.

Middle blocker Isabella Scarlett is seventh in the Big West in hitting percentage at .292.

Cal Baptist enters the week 5-4 overall and riding a three-match winning streak.

The Lancers won the CBU/UCR Tournament last week, topping Nevada (3-2), Oregon State (3-2) and UC Riverside (3-0).

UCI and CBU are 1-1 in the series record. The Lancers defeated UCI 3-2 in last year's event at GCU.

Emma Spindt had 13 kills and seven digs in that match.

GCU is 5-4 on the season and coming off a 2-1 weekend at the Hawkeye Invitational.

The 'Lopes swept Missouri State and host Iowa in between dropping a 3-2 loss to Central Michigan.

Tatum Parrott and Klaire Mitchell were both named to the Hawkeye Invitational All-Tournament team. 

UCI beat Grand Canyon, 3-0 last season at this event in Phoenix. Marianna Bertolone shared the team lead with 12 kills, hitting .632 (12-0-19).