IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine won the first set but couldn't continue the momentum in a four-set loss to UC Davis (25-18, 23-25, 20-25, 17-25) at the Bren Events Center Thursday.

UC Irvine had a balanced attack led by outside hitter Katie Smith's 12 kills followed by opposite Hunter Riedl and middle blocker Ella Gardiner with 10 apiece. Riedl led the team with four blocks and Gardiner had three (1 solo).

UCI goes to 11-9 overall and 5-4 in the Big West, while UC Davis remains atop the Big West standings at 8-1, improving to 13-5 overall.  

INISDE THE NUMBERS
>Setter Nicole Feliciano totaled 34 set assists, six digs and three kills. She had the Anteaters' two aces
>Outside hitter Kendra MacDonald added six kills and eight digs
>Libero Campbell Jensen, the reigning Big West Defensive Player of the Week, had a team-best 11 digs  
>Middle blocker Ofure Iselen had four kills and three block assists
>UC Davis' Olivia Utterback had a match-best 20 kills
>The Aggies out-hit (.298-.220), blocked (11-7), dug (52-48), and aced (5-2) the Anteaters

FIRST SET
>UCI created some separation with a block from Hunter Riedl and Ofure Iselen, an ace by Nicole Feliciano and a kill by Katie Smith, 11-8
>A kill from Gardiner off the slide made the advantage 16-13
>Three consecutive kills, two by Smith and a dump by Feliciano, increased the margin to 19-15
>Kills by Islen, one to the right and one to lhe left, was followed by a block by Islen and Riedl for set point, 24-17
>Riedl ended the set with a kill off Aggie hands, 25-18
>UCI hit .556 with just one error (17-1-28)

SECOND SET
>UCI jumped out to an early 3-1 lead on two Aggie errors and a kill by Riedl only to watch three Anteater errors follow to give UC Davis a 4-3 lead
>The teams would battle back-and-forth before a kill by Smith and a block by Iselen and Riedl forced a UCD timeout, 19-17
>UC Davis answered with the next two, tying it for the 17th time
>Smith would swipe a kill over the net then Kendra MacDonald wound up for a kill down the line, 21-19
>The Aggies responded again with the next three to move in front 22-21
>A kill by Riedl was followed by one from Gardiner to put UCI up 23-22, only to watch UC Davis score the final three points on a UCI attack error and two kills, 25-23

THIRD SET
>UC Davis started the set with a 4-1 lead
>Two blocks and two kills gave the Aggies an 11-4 lead
>UCI would come alive on two kills by Smith and another by Riedl plus a UCD error, 8-11
>Three consecutive UC Davis errors, the last on a block by Riedl and Gardiner pulled UCI within one, 12-13
>Three unanswered kills pushed the Aggie lead to 21-15 and they would go on to win 25-20
>UCD out-hit UCI .400 -.188

FOURTH SET
>The Aggies scored six in a row, three on UCI errors, to break open the set, 12-4
>UC Davis would use two kills and two aces, the last one on a UCI rotation error, to open a 22-13 advantage
>UCI wouldn't go away, recording kills by Kendra Duffey, Gardiner and a block by Gardiner and Emma Napoleon, 16-22
>UCD would close out the match on a pair of kills and UCI attack that sailed wide, 25-20

NOTES
>Two aces ties a season-low for UCI

UP NEXT
UCI will travel to UC Riverside Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. match at SCR Arena