LA JOLLA, Calif. –In a match that saw 48 ties and 29 lead changes, UC Irvine came up short, falling to UC San Diego in five sets at LionTree Arena.

UC Irvine held a 2-1 lead (23-25, 25-21, 28-26) only to watch the Tritons win the final two sets 25-13 and 18-16.

UCI had a season-high 97 digs led by Campbell Jensen's career-tying 32 digs. The team's 97 digs are third most in the Big West, while Jensen's 32 digs ranks second among Big West players.  

The loss snaps a two-match winning streak for the Anteaters. UCSD wins its fourth straight matching UCI at 11-8 overall and 5-3 in the Big West.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Katie Smith led UCI with 18 kills to go with nine digs and three block assists
>Setter Nicole Feliciano tied her career-high with 48 set assists. She had 16 digs and two aces
>Middle blocker Ella Gardiner recorded 11 kills and a team-best six block assists
>Outside hitter Kendra Duffey came off the bench to total eight kills and five total blocks (2 solo)
>Outside hitter Kendra MacDonald had seven kills and 10 digs, while middle blocker Ofure Iselen recorded five kills and five block assists
>UC San Diego out-blocked UCI 17-13 and out-aced 9-4
>Jasmine Saran led the Tritons with 15 kills

FIRST SET
>The Tritons started the match with an ace and block, 2-0
>Two UCSD errors followed to draw the Anteaters even
>Four Anteater attack errors, the last two on blocks and a Triton kill opened an 8-3 lead for UCSD
>UCI scored five unanswered on three Triton miscues and kills by Ella Gardiner and Nicole Feliciano to tie the score, 8-8
>Kills by Smith and Kendra MacDonald plus a UCSD attack error moved the Anteaters in front 13-12
>The teams remained close until a kill by MacDonald and two UCSD attack errors pushed UCI out to  a 20-18 advantage  
>UCI led 21-19 only to watch UCSD score five straight to sit at set point, 24-21
>A kill by MacDonald and a Triton error narrowed the deficit to 23-24
>A block ended the set for UC San Diego 25-23
>The Tritons out-blocked UCI 6-1 in the frame

SECOND SET
>Gardiner knocked one off the block on the slide, 2-1
>Kills by MacDonald and Smith helped UCI to a 7-5 lead
>The Tritons answered with two kills and an ace, 8-7
>UCSD had another 3-0 run to move out to an 11-9 advantage
>UCI had four of their own including kills by Iselen and Smith, 13-11
>A block by Riedl and Iselen capped a 3-0 spurt to put UCI up 16-12
>UCSD kept chipping away and would tie the score at 18-18
>Kendra Duffey entered the match and promptly added a kill, 19-18
>UCI scored the next three, the last on kills by Smith forcing a UCSD timeout, 22-18
>Smith would put away her fifth kill of the set for the win 25-21

THIRD SET
>In another closely contested set, UCI had a block by Iselen and Smith followed by a solo from Duffey, 9-8
>Back-and-forth they would go until a pair of Smith kills was followed by a Smith ace to open a 20-18 advantage
>Kills by Riedl, Smith and Duffey gave UCI set point 24-20 only to watch UCSD peel off five in a row, three on UCI errors to take a 25-24 lead
>Teams would back-and-forth before the UCI block led the way, the first by Gardiner and Smith and the final one by Feliciano and Iselen to win the set 28-26

FOURTH SET
>Three UCI errors and three kills got UCSD out to a 6-1 lead
>A kill by Feliciano started a 4-0 run that also included two kills by Smith and a block by Smith and Gardiner, 5-6
>A block, ace and kill by the Tritons pushed the margin back out to 9-5
>Three consecutive kills and a UCI attack into the net made the gap 18-9
>The set was all UC San Diego, winning 25-13 and forcing another five setter

FIFTH SET
>UCSD jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead before kills by Gardiner and Riedl and a solo block by Duffey would knot the score at 3-3
>A kill by Gardiner and a Triton attack error gave UCI its first lead, 6-5
>A kill and block turned the tables giving the Tritons a 9-7 advantage
>It was short lived with kills by Smith and Duffey, 9-9
>UCI held match point on a kill by Smith and the Tritons out of rotation, 15-14
>Another kill by Smith gave UCI the 16-15 lead before UCSD scored the final three points on a UCI service error, ace and kill, 18-16

NOTES
>It was UCI's ninth five-setter overall and second consecutive night, going 5-4
>Jensen also had 32 digs versus UC San Diego on Nov. 12, 2022
 
UP NEXT
UCI returns to the Bren Events Center Thursday (Oct. 24) when they will host league-leading UC Davis at 6:00 p.m.