IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine took care of business beating Hawaii 3-1 (25-19, 15-25, 25-18, 25-19) in the regular season finale at the Bren Events Center Saturday.

The Anteater win combined with a UC Santa Barbara loss put UCI in a tie with the Gauchos for the final spot at the Big West Championship with a 10-8 record. UCI and UCSB split the season series so the tiebreaker goes to the top of the standings where both teams went 0-2 against Cal Poly and UCI went 2-0 versus Hawaii and UCSB was 1-1.

It is the third all-time victory against Hawaii and first time in program history that UCI has won the season series. The Anteaters end the regular season on a two-match winning streak, improving to 15-13 overall. Hawaii is 19-8 overall and finish in second place with a 13-4 mark.

All eight seniors made contributions led by middle blocker Ofure Iselen who was impressive with seven total blocks (2 solo). She hit .417 with five kills on 12 attempts without an error.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Kendra MacDonald led UCI with 13 kills, hitting .303 (13-3-33). She also had six digs, an ace and a block assist
>Outside hitter Katie Smith totaled nine kills and five total blocks (1 solo)
>Opposite Hunter Riedl had seven kills, five digs and a block assist, while middle blocker Ella Gardiner pitched in six kills and three total blocks (1 solo)
>Libero Campbell Jensen had a team-best 16 digs followed by setter Indy De Smet with 11 to go with 17 set assists and an ace
>UCI out-hit Hawaii .190-.169. UCI also held the advantage in blocks (11-8) and aces (5-4), while the Rainbow Wahine out-dug the Anteaters 72-57
>UH's Caylen Alexander led all players with 19 kills

FIRST SET
>UCI had the early 3-1 lead helped by an ace from Campbell Jensen
>The Anteaters made a move on kills by Ofure Iselen and Kendra MacDonald that bookended UH errors to put UCI up  16-13
>The lead was short lived as Hawaii caught the Anteaters at 16-16
>UCI would go on another run started by a kill by Iselen, then three UH errors and another Riedl kill, 22-17
>UCI ended the set with three consecutive kills one by Riedl and the last two by MacDonald, 25-19

SECOND SET
>It was Hawaii's turn to start quickly with a 6-1 lead then had four more in a row to go up 11-3
>The Anteaters had a 4-1 run which included an ace by Indy De Smet and kill and block assist by Iselen to cut the margin to 7-12
>Five unanswered by Hawaii opened a 21-10 lead
>The Rainbow Wahine would go on to win the set 25-15
>UCI hit .024 (8-7-42)

THIRD SET
>A kill by Katie Smith was followed by a kill and solo block by Isleen to put the Anteaters up 13-10 only to watch Hawaii score the next three, 13-13
>UCI came alive on kills by Riedl and Gardiner, a dump over her shoulder for a kill by Nicole Feliciano, a UH setting error and a solo block by Gardiner, 19-14
>UCI would clinch the set on two Hawaii errors and a kill by MacDonald, 25-18

FOURTH SET
>Kills by MacDonald and Iselen were followed by a consecutive blocks by Iselen and Smith to give UCI a 10-4 lead
>UCI would lead 15-7 before UH went on a 5-0 spurt to draw within 14-16
>A kill by Smith and a solo block by Iselen put the Anteaters up 20-16
>MacDonald once again put down the winner, 25-19

NOTES
>Iselen has recorded seven or more blocks four times this season
>Feliciano returned to the court adding 16 set assists, three digs and three digs

UP NEXT
UCI will play third-seed UC Davis Wednesday (Nov. 27) in the first round of The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2024 Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship at the Bren Events Center.

Big West Championship Page