SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – UC Santa Barbara closed the first two sets with big runs to help beat UC Irvine 3-1 (25-16, 25-20, 19-25, 25-12) at the Thunderdome Saturday night.

Serving keyed UCSB 's late runs with the Gauchos holding a 6-1 ace advantage on the night. UC Santa Barbara also bettered the Anteaters in blocks (11-8.5) and digs (50-36).

UC Irvine was led by outside hitter Kendra Duffey with a match-high 13 kills to go with five digs and a block assist.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Madison Triplett had her second double-double of the season with 10 kills and 10 digs
>Middle blocker Sydnee Rowe had a nice night matching her career-high with nine kills. She tied Lois Hansen for the team-high with four total blocks (1 solo)
>Hansen also added five kills and four digs
>Setter Nicole Feliciano totaled 28 set assists and three digs
>Libero Campbell Jensen had a match-high 12 digs and five set assists
> Middle blocker Ally Bolden recorded four kills and three total blocks
>UCSB had four players with double-figure kills led by Gabi Martinez' 13
>The Gauchos hit .315 to UCI's .165  

FIRST SET
>UCSB opened up a 9-4 lead following a block, kill and UCI attack error
>Sydnee Rowe smashed a ball cross court, 7-12
>UCI would string a pair of points together on a kill by Ally Bolden and another from a swinging Nicole Feliciano, 11-17
>Kendra Duffey would bring UCI within 14-18 on back-to-back kills
>UCSB would out-score UCI 7-2 to close the set,  25-16

SECOND SET
>UCI jumped out quickly with a 3-0 lead on a block by Rowe and Lois Hansen, a kill by Madison Triplett down the line and a Gaucho attack error
>Duffey would put away three consecutive kills to give UCI a 9-6 lead
>A pair of Gaucho kills followed by back-to-back aces moved UCSB in front 13-12
>The Anteaters would score three in a row, the last a kill by Triplett off hands, to take a 16-13 advantage
>UCSB would even the score at 16s and after being tied at 18-18, UCSB would once again go a 7-2 run to win, the last a UCI service error, 25-20

THIRD SET
>Back-to-back kills by Duffey, the last a tap-back over for a point, 7-5
>A kill and block assist by Rowe gave UCI the 10-8 lead
>An ace by Izzy Romero helped UCI lead 15-10 lead at the media timeout
>A kill Bolden put the Anteaters up 18-14 only to watch UCSB have an ace and two kills to close within 18-17
>A Rowe kill would stop the momentum and a kill by Duffey and a UCSB attack error would  increase the UCI lead to 21-18
>Behind tough serving by Duffey, Hansen would put down consecutive overpasses, 23-18
>Triplett would end the set with a kill, 25-20

FOURTH SET
>Two kills by Triplett and another by Hansen gave UCI the quick 4-1 lead
>UCI would lead 5-3 on a Triplett kill before three consecutive UCSB kills moved the Gauchos in front 6-5
>Five unanswered points by UCSB created some separation, 11-6
>UCSB never looked back winning 25-12

NOTES
>Izzy Romero logged her eighth ace of the year
>UCI goes to 7-13 overall and 2-6 in the Big West. UCSB is 14-6 on the year and 6-2 in league matches

UP NEXT
Hawaii will visit the Bren Events Center Tuesday (Oct. 21) for a 6:00 p.m. meeting with UCI.