BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Middle blocker Ella Gardiner put away 16 kills in a 3-1 victory (25-17, 29-31, 25-16, 25-20) over Cal State Bakersfield at the Icardo Center Friday night.

Gardiner hit .423 with a match-high 16 kills to go with four digs and two block assists.

The Anteaters win their second consecutive match and improve to 13-9 overall and 7-4 in the Big West.

INISDE THE NUMBERS
>Setter Nicole Feliciano dished 41 set assists, hit .429 with six kills, had seven digs, a block and an ace
>Libero Campbell Jensen totaled 21 digs and fired three aces
>Outside hitter Kendra MacDonald smashed 11 kills and had 11 digs
>Opposite hitter Hunter Riedl had nine kills, while outside hitter Katie Smith added eight kills
>Middle blocker Ofure Iselen had a team-best three block assists and seven kills
>Indy De Smet tallied a season-high 12 digs
>CSU Bakersfield (10-13, 4-7) was led by Sydney Dunning with 10 kills and two aces
>UCI led in hitting (.252-.124) and digs (75-65), while the Roadrunners held the advantage in blocks (8-5) and aces (8-6)

FIRST SET
>Back-to-back kills gave the Roadrunners a 7-4 lead
>A tip to the front corner by Ofure Iselen was followed by an ace by Nicole Feliciano to pull within 6-7
>A kill by Kendra MacDonald and two aces by Campbell Jensen gave UCI their first lead at 11-9
>Consecutive kills by MacDonald and Katie Smith extended the lead to 14-11
>Kills by Iselen and Hunter Riedl plus a Roadrunner ball-handling error forced a CSUB timeout. 18-13
>Gardiner would end the set with the final two kills, 25-17
>UCI would hit .406 (15-3-32) in the frame

SECOND SET
>UCI led 2-1 on another Jensen ace before CSUB exploded for seven in a row, three on Roadrunner aces to open an 8-2 lead
>A Roadrunner service error and kills by MacDonald and Gardiner got UCI back into the set, 5-8
>A 5-1 run by CSUB moved the Roadrunner lead to 15-9
>UCI clawed their way back into it with four in a row, two CSUB errors and two Gardiner kills, 15-17
>Kills by Feliciano and Smith would close to 17-19
>Cal State Bakersfield would hold set point, 24-20 before the Anteaters would catch fire, scoring four in a row to tie it at 24 all. MacDonald had two kills and Riedl and Gardiner had a block in the run
>Tied at 29-29, CSUB would record back-to-back kills to win 31-29

THIRD SET
>UCI started with a 4-1 lead on kills by Riedl and Gardiner only to watch the Roadrunners record three straight kills to knot the score at 5-5
>A kill by Smith and a Roadrunner attack error gave some separation , 8-6
>Another three consecutive kills flipped the script and put CSUB in front 10-9
>UCI answered with a Roadrunner service error, a kill by MacDonald and a CSUB attack error, 12-10
>Riedl had a kill then CSUB had four straight hitting errors to give UCI a 17-11 lead
>Riedl would put away a kill then pair with Iselen for a block then the opposite would drift into the middle and hammer a ball from a bump set, 24-15
>Islen ended the set with a kill, 25-16

FOURTH SET
>An ace by MacDonald would erase an early deficit and tie the set at 3-3 then Gardiner would record a kill on the slide, 4-3
>A 4-0 spurt by the Roadrunners capped with an ace gave CSUB a 7-4 lead
>Two UCI errors and a kill moved Cal State Bakersfield to a 10-5 lead
>UCI would rally on a 7-1 run, the last a Riedl kill, to take a 12-11 lead
>Two Roadrunner attack errors and a kill by Gardiner extended the lead to 16-12
>A block by Gardiner and MacDonald stretched the advantage to 19-13
>CSUB made it interesting with four in a row (20-22) before UCI had a block by Iselen and Feliciano which was followed by two Roadrunner errors to end the match, 25-20  

NOTES
>Jensen has recorded 20 or more digs five times this season

UP NEXT
UCI travels to CSUN Saturday for a 5:00 p.m. match at the Premier Credit Union Arena