Box Score BOULDER, Colo. – UC Irvine middle blockers Ella Gardiner and Soana Leaea had career-highs and carried the offensive load in a 3-1 loss to California in the final match of the Buffs Invitational at the CU Events Center Sunday.

Gardiner had a match and career-high 19 kills on a .417 hitting percentage (19-4-36). The graduate student also had five total blocks (1 solo). Leaea put away a personal-best 11 kills while hitting .346 (11-2-26) and recording three block assists.

The Anteaters go 1-2 at the tournament and are 5-4 overall. Cal improves to 7-3.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Opposite Hunter Riedl added eight kills, two aces, five digs and four block assists
>Setter Nicole Feliciano totaled 39 set assists and nine digs
>Libero Campbell Jensen had a match-best 17 digs
>The teams were even in blocks (10-10) and digs (59-59), but the Golden Bears held the advantage in hitting percentage (.245-.155) and aces (7-3)
>Kate Mansfield topped Cal with 16 kills. Peyton Dejardin had 13 kills, five aces, 10 digs and three block assists   

FIRST SET
>Cal broke open the set on a 6-1 run which included two aces, 12-5
>A kill by Emma Napoleon was followed by a kill and solo block from Ella Gardiner, 12-16
>The Golden Bears closed out the set on a 5-1 run to win 25-16

SECOND SET
>A Cal attack error plus a block assist and kill by Hunter Riedl moved UCI out to a 4-1 lead
>Gardiner would two-hand slam the ball back on an overpass to go up 7-3
>Cal would have a kill out of the backrow, a point on a joust and an ace to inch within 6-7
>The Anteaters answered with next four with help from a solo block by Katie Smith, 11-6
>A block by Riedl and Soana Leaea and a kill from Gardiner on the slide upped the score to 16-11
>Following a Golden Bear point, another Gardiner kill and a Riedl ace put the Anteaters in front 18-12
>A kill by Riedl gave UCI set point then Cal made it interesting scoring five in a row on four kills and a block tying the set at 24-24
>A kill by Napoleon and a block by Riedl and Gardiner ended the set, 26-24

THIRD SET
>Cal started with a quick 3-0 lead, all on UCI miscues
>A kill and block assist by Gardiner got the Anteaters back into the set, 3-4
>The Golden Bears would score five of the next seven to regain control 9-5
>Back-to-back kills by Leaea and a Cal attack error helped close the gap (8-9) only to watch Cal go on a 6-1 spurt, 15-9
>Cal led 21-11 before UCI rallied using kills by Gardiner, Smith and an ace by Indy De Smet, 15-22
>The next three, two kills and an ace gave Cal the 25-16 victory

FOURTH SET
>It was all Cal to start, 5-0
>Cal held a healthy 11-4 lead but the Anteaters wouldn't go away easily going on a 5-1 run that saw two kills by Riedl and one by Gardiner plus the pair joining together for a block, 8-11
>The Golden Bears would score six in a row to increase the margin to 18-9
>Three kills by Leaea kept the Anteaters in the set then three consecutive kills by Gardiner forced a Cal timeout, 19-23
>Out of the break, Cal had a kill and UCI error to end the match, 25-19

NOTES
>Over three matches in Colorado, Riedl had a team-high 38 kills and totaled 13 block assists, 15 digs and three aces
>Riedl is second on the team with 10 aces. It is her fourth multi-ace match this season

UP NEXT
>UCI returns for its final non-conference action, competing at the Big West/WAC Challenge Friday and Saturday at California Baptist. First up, the Anteaters will take on Grand Canyon at 3:00 p.m.