Celebrate-WVB-24
3
Winner UC Irvine Irvine 7-5,1-0 Big West
1
Cal St. Fullerton CSF 4-7,0-1 Big West
Winner
UC Irvine Irvine
7-5,1-0 Big West
3
Final
1
Cal St. Fullerton CSF
4-7,0-1 Big West
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
UC Irvine Irvine 25 19 25 25 (3)
Cal St. Fullerton CSF 23 25 15 14 (1)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | Stacey Shackleford

UC Irvine Uses Big West-Best 17 Blocks To Beat Titans, 3-1

FULLERTON, Calif. – UC Irvine had a season-high 17 blocks to beat Cal State Fullerton, 3-1 (25-23, 19-25, 25-15, 25-14) to start the Big West schedule at Titan Gym Tuesday night.

The Anteaters rejected a Big West-best 17 blocks, led by middle blocker Ella Gardiner who posted a career-high eight block assists which is tied for fifth most in the Big West this season. Eight different players added a block in the win.

Setter Nicole Feliciano, who guided UCI to a .233 hitting percentage, dished 34 set assists to go with 11 digs, four kills, three block assists and an ace. She hit .667 herself (4-0-6).

The balanced offense was led by outside hitter Katie Smith's nine kills.

UCI wins its second consecutive match to improve to 7-5 overall and 1-0 in the Big West. The Titans drop to 4-7 on the year and 0-1.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Kendra Duffey joined Gardiner and Hunter Riedl with eight kills apiece, a career-best in kills and in blocks with five total (1 solo)
>Middle blocker Soana Leaea hit .417 with six kills in 12 attempts and just one error. The Big West leader in blocking average totaled six total blocks (2 solos)
>Libero Campbell Jensen had 15 kills, while Maia Niemen totaled eight digs, tying her career-best
>Ameena Campbell led Cal State Fullerton with a match-high12 kills
>UCI out-blocked the Titans 17-5
>UCI leads The Big West in opponent's hitting percentage held CSUF to a .093 mark (50-36-150)

FIRST SET
>Cal State Fullerton jumped out quickly with five consecutive points, 5-1
>UCI used a 4-1 run which saw three Titan errors and a kill by Kendra Duffey to close  to 13-14
>A kill by Ella Gardiner plus a kill and block by  Duffey knotted the score at 16-16
>CSUF answered with the next two, 18-16
>Back-to-back kills by Nicole Feliciano, including a behind the back dump started a 3-0 run to tie the set again at 19-19
>A kill by Katie Smith and a solo block by Soana Leaea gave UCI a 21-20 lead
>A kill by Riedl ended the set, 25-23

SECOND SET
>Once again the Titans started out quickly using four UCI errors and two aces, 7-2
>The Titans would tack on three more, two kills and a block, 10-4
>Three consecutive Titan kills made it
>Consecutive kills by Leaea and Emma Napoleon kept UCI alive (19-24), but CSUF would ended the set on the next play with a kill, 25-19

THIRD SET  
>It was all UCI to start, 7-1 with Smith adding two kills and an ace
>Smith put away three kills then a block by Leaea and Duffey put UCI ahead 16-8 on a 4-1 run
>A kill and block assist by Gardiner then an ace by Riedl upped the lead to 20-11
>A Smith kill gave UCI the 25-15 victory

FOURTH SET
>The Anteaters used a pair of Riedl kills, a kill by Duffey and a Titan attack error to move in front 5-3
>A kill by Gardiner followed by a Gardiner and Duffey block increased the lead to 7-4
>UCI broke open the set with six in a row, including an ace by Feliciano and solo blocks by Leaea and Smith, 15-8
>A kill by Gardiner was followed by five straight Titan errors, one a block by Gardiner and Duffey, 23-13
>A kill by Duffey was followed by a CSUF attack into the net to close out the match 25-14

NOTES
>Feliciano has six double-doubles this season
>Nine different players added a kill in the win
>UCI's .233 hitting percentage is third best this season
>UCI has won four consecutive Big West openers
>17 blocks are tied for 12th nationally in a four set match this season

UP NEXT
UCI travels to Hawaii Friday (Sept. 27) for a 10:00 p.m. PT first serve.
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