SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - -Katie Smith led UC Irvine with 19 kills, but it was not enough in a five-set loss (19-25, 25-22, 19-25, 26-24, 8-15) to UC Santa Barbara at the Thunderdome Friday.

Smith was one shy of her career-high with the match-best 19 kills. She also had eight digs, four block assists and an ace.

UCI goes to 14-12 overall and 8-7 in the Big West, while UCSB moves into sixth in the standings by itself with a 9-6 league mark and 13-14 overall.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Kendra MacDonald totaled 15 kills and five digs
>Middle blocker Ofure Iselen tied her a career-high with eight kills to go with five total blocks (1 solo)
>Setter Indy De Smet made her first start of the season, recording 46 set assists and 11 digs with an ace
>Middle blocker Ella Gardiner added seven kills, while outside hitter Emma Napoleon had five kills, hitting .625
>Libero Campbell Jensen scooped 21 digs
>UCSB had four players in double-digit kills led by Eva Travis' 19 kills and 18 digs
>The Gauchos held the advantage in hitting (.284-.209), digs (84-73) and aces (8-5)

FIRST SET
>UCSB went on a 7-2 run which included four kills by Grace Wuischpard, 13-7
>The Gauchos would never relinquish command, but with UCSB holding set point, UCI made it interesting on a kill by Kendra MacDonald and a Gaucho attack error to draw to 19-24
>A kill would ended the set for UCSB, 25-19

SECOND SET
>UCSB had a pair of kills and an ace to take a 9-7 lead
>UCI would knot the set at 10-10 on a kill by Katie Smith and an ace by Indy De Smet
>Back-to-back kills by Emma Napoleon put UCI up 14-13
>UCI had four in a row including back-to-back blocks by Smith and Ofure Iselen, 19-15
>A 4-1 run by the Gauchos closed the gap to 20-19 until Smith and Iselen had another block to stop the momentum
>A kill by Iselen and a block by Hunter Riedl and Ella Gardiner made it 23-20
>Napoleon put the ball in the back corner for the set winner, 25-22
>The Anteater block came alive with four in the set

THIRD SET
>UCSB took a 7-0 start on two aces and two blocks
>Down 13-5, UCI rallied on kills by Smith and MacDonald, a solo block by Iselen and an ace by Keelan Williams narrowed the deficit to 9-13
>A block by Smith and Iselen and another kill by Iselen made it 11-14
>Three in a row by UCSB the last an ace helped the Gauchos regain control, 20-14
>UCI could not overcome the slow start and lost 25-19 on an ace

FOURTH SET
>UCSB led early, 6-2, before UCI outscored the Gauchos 6-1 highlighted by an ace from Smith, kill by MacDonald and a block by Gardiner and Kendra Duffey to move in front 8-7
>Three consecutive kills by Smith was followed by an ace from Campbell Jensen and a Gaucho attack that sailed long, 15-11
>A 4-0 spurt by UCI on a pair of MacDonald kills and capped by an Kendra Duffey ace increased UCI's lead to 22-16
>UCI held set point 24-19 only to watch UCSB score the next five on four UCI attack errors, the last a block to tie the set at 24 all
>Kills by Smith and Soana Leaea forced a fifth set 26-24

FIFTH SET
>UCI opened with a kill by Gardiner on the slide
>Three in a row by UCSB opened a 5-2 lead
>Kills by Duffey and Iselen closed the gap to 4-6, but the Gauchos then out-scored the Anteaters 5-1 to go up 11-5
>UCSB would go on to win the set 15-8, hitting .435 (11-1-23)

NOTES
>UCI is 5-5 in five set matches this season
>Jensen has recorded 20 or more digs six times this season

UP NEXT
UCI heads to Cal Poly for a 6:00 p.m. match at Mott Athletics Center.