UC Irvine Sweeps Host New Mexico In Lobo Invitational Finale

Saturday, August 31

Albuquerque, NM

12:00 p.m.

UC Irvine

2-1,0-0Big West

New Mexico

2-1,0-0Mountain West

Team	1	2	3	Final F
UC Irvine	25	25	25	3
New Mexico	16	14	18	0

Photo by: Jake Hamlin

UC Irvine Sweeps Host New Mexico In Lobo Invitational Finale

August 31, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Stacey Shackleford

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Following a long day on Friday, UC Irvine made quick work of host New Mexico, 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-18) in the final match of the Lobo Invitational held at the Johnson Center Saturday.

The Anteater defense held the Lobos to a .000 hitting percentage (26-26-114), led by middle blocker Ofure Iselen recording a career-high eight block assists to go with seven kills. The senior hit .462 with just one attack error in 13 swings.

UCI out-blocked New Mexico 13-8 and held an advantage in digs (49-41) and aces (6-1).

For the third consecutive match, graduate student Hunter Riedl led UCI in kills with 10. She tied her career-high with five block assists.

Riedl joined Nicole Felicano and Katie Smith on the all-tournament team.

Both teams open the season with 2-1 records and were dubbed co-champions.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Junior Kendra MacDonald had a season-high eight kills and 13 digs. She also added two block assists
>Setter Nicole Feliciano totaled 26 set assists, eight digs, six kills and four block assists
>Middle blocker Ella Gardiner did not commit a hitting error, owning a .500 mark (4-0-8), while recording five block assists
>For the second consecutive match, outside hitter Katie Smith matched her career-best in aces with four. She had four kills, six digs and two block assists
>Libero Campbell Jensen had 12 digs
>New Mexico was led by Lauryn Payne's match-high 11 kills

FIRST SET
>Hunter Riedl took over the set in a 9-0 run, recording three kills and assisting on three consecutive blocks, 11-4
>Back-to-back blocks by Ofure Iselen and Katie Smith were followed by two more Lobo errors, 20-9
>A kill by Smith ended the set 25-16

SECOND SET
>A kill by Smith and Iselen twice plus two UNM errors pushed the Anteaters out to a 5-1 lead
>A pair of Riedl kills and a Smith ace sparked a 6-2 spurt extending the lead to 11-4
>A small 3-0 run included a kill by Nicole Feliciano and an ace by Campbell Jensen, 17-7
> UCI scored the final three points on the strength of two Kendra MacDonald kills, including the set winner, 25-14

THIRD SET
>Iselen assisted on two blocks and had a kill to help UCI to a 5-2 lead
>New Mexico would use two Anteater errors to tie the set at 6-6, but UCI responded with the next three, a Lobo error, and kills by Riedl and Feliciano, 9-6
>Another kill by Iselen made it 13-9 before the Lobos scored four unanswered to tie it once again 13-13
>It was UCI's turn to respond with kills by Riedl and Iselen and an ace by Smith, 16-13
>UCI scored five in a row, using a kill by MacDonald and three blocks, all assisted by Ella Gardiner, 22-15
>teams would trade points until Feliciano ended the match with a kill, 25-18

NOTES
>The Anteaters hit a season-high .229 (39-15-105)
>Katie Smith leads the team with nine aces over the first three matches

UP NEXT
UCI returns home to host the UCI/adidas Invitational Thurs-Sun. The Anteaters kick off action Friday at 7:00 p.m. against Idaho State at Crawford Court