FULLERTON, Calif. – UC Irvine was led by Emma Napoleon's career-high eight kills in a 3-0 loss to Grand Canyon at the WAC/Big West Showdown in Titan Gym Saturday afternoon.

In Napoleon's third career match, the outside hitter led the team in kills, hitting .333 and recording three digs.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>The offense was evenly distributed with Hunter Riedl and Marianna Bertolone recording seven kills, while Kendra MacDonald and Isabella Scarlett had six each
>Middle blocker Ofure Iselen hit .833 with five kills on six swings. She also had two block assists and three digs
>Setter Nicole Feliciano recorded five kills, 28 set assists and seven digs
>Libero Campbell Jensen recorded a match-high 10 digs
>GCU (7-4) out-blocked (10-3), out-aced (9-3) and out-hit (.379-.245) UCI
>The Antelopes were led by Tatum Parrott with a match-best 12 kills and three total blocks

FIRST SET
>It was all GCU to start the match, 6-1
>A kill by Kendra MacDonald and an Antelope error closed the gap to 4-7
>GCU would use two UCI errors on a 4-1 spurt, 11-5
>Three straight helped Grand Canyon to a 20-9 lead before Marianna Bertolone sparked UCI with two kills and an ace followed by an Emma Napoleon kill, 13-20
>Feliciano would record consecutive kills (17-23), but the 'Lopes would win the set 25-18
>GCU would hit .485 (18-2-33) and after a slow start UCI hit .312 (14-4-32)
>Napoleon already matched her career-high with three kills, hitting .750 (3-0-4)

SECOND SET
>A UCI service and attack error helped the 'Lopes to a small 6-4 lead
>UCI responded with kills by Nicole Feliciano and Isabella Scarlett, 6-6
>The teams would stay within two of each other until the Antelopes used a 3-1 run capped by an ace to go up 16-12
>GCU had an ace (18-13) before two kills and a block by Ofure Iselen and Feliciano started a 5-1 run to narrow the margin, 18-19
>GCU would end the set with the final six points, a kill and five consecutive UCI errors, the last two receiving errors, 25-18

THIRD SET
>A kill by MacDonald and a bad set on GCU's side gave the Anteaters the 9-7 advantage
>A kill by Iselen and two aces by Becca Sakoda extended the lead to 14-9
>After a Riedl kill, GCU had four unanswered to force a UCI timeout, 15-14
>Out of the break, the 'Lopes out-scored UCI 3-1 with two aces to move in front 17-16
>Grand Canyon called timeout after a kill by Riedl and Iselen put the Anteaters up 23-22
>A kill by Scarlett made it set point, 24-22, but a kill and bad set kept the game going, 24-24
>Napoleon had a pair of kills to tie the set at 26-26
>GCU would have a kill then after a service error ended the match with back-to-back blocks, 29-27

NOTES
>The Anteaters (2-9) have lost six in a row, the longest losing skid since 2019 when the team lost eight straight
>Libero Campbell Jensen has recorded digs in double-figures nine times in 2023
>Becca Sakoda had two aces and has seven on the season


UP NEXT
UCI opens Big West action at home hosting UC Riverside Friday at 6:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.