IRVINE, Calif. – A team effort full of career-highs secured No. 5 UC Irvine's come-from-behind 3-2 win over No. 18 UC Santa Barbara at The Thunderdome Thursday.

The Anteaters would take the first set 25-19 then dropped the next two (17-25, 19-25) before rallying to capture the last two, 30-28 and 15-12. UCI would hit .516 in the fourth and .444 in the fifth, while the Gauchos were .343 and .285, respectively.

In the critical fourth set, UCI trailed 20-22, but was helped by two UCSB errors to tie the score at 22 all. Kills by Aidan Rigg and Nolan Flexen ended the set to send it to a fifth. The Anteaters improve to 17-6 overall and 3-4 in the Big West.

Opposite William D'Arcy's career-best 21 kills led UC Irvine. He hit .415 and added seven digs and an ace. The junior had a team-high six kills in the fourth set and four in the fifth.

Freshman Micah Goss, who was playing in his hometown, tied his career-high with 10 kills to go with a team-best four block assists and three aces.

Setter Aidan Rigg guided UCI with 24 set assists and had a career-high five kills in five swings. He also had a career-high two block assists.

Freshman Tim Ennis came off the bench to ignite UCI with a career-best six kills, hitting .556 (6-1-9).

Middle blocker Beck Weber made the start and matched his career-high in kills for the second consecutive match, going 4-0-4.

Libero Shane Aitken totaled a match and career-best 13 digs and six set assists.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Nolan Flexen recorded 12 kills and two aces
>Setter Joe Karlous totaled 22 set assists and three kills in three sets
>UCI out-blocked UCSB, 7-4
>The Anteaters ended the match hitting .437 (64-12-119) to UCSB's .388 (67-17-129)
>UCSB's George Bruening had a match-best 26 kills. The Gauchos are 11-13 overall and 2-5 in the Big West

FIRST SET
>UCI opened a 7-3 lead on a kill by Andon Kiriakou and a service ace by Micah Goss
>Four more in a row for the Anteaters on a UCSB service ace, and kills by William D'Arcy, Beck Weber and Joe Karlous on an overpass stretched the lead to 13-7
>The Gauchos would close to 18-16 before a service error stopped the momentum
>A kill by D'Arcy was followed by two UCSB attack errors to end the set, 25-19
>UCI did not commit an attack error, hitting .750 (15-0-20)

SECOND SET
>A quick 5-0 spurt on four kills and a block got the Gauchos out to an 8-2 lead
>The Gauchos extended the lead to 9-3 before a kill by Goss and a UCSB attack error made a dent, 5-9
>A perfect pancake by Kiriakou popped it to Karlous who dished it back for Kiriakou for the kill, 7-12
>A pair of kills by D'Arcy closed the score to 12-17
>A kill by Goss and one by D'Arcy made it 15-20
>UCI could not overcome the large early deficit as UC Santa Barbara would win the set, 25-17

THIRD SET
>A 6-1 run pushed UCSB out to an early 7-2 lead
>UCI finally scored two in a row on a Santa Barbara service error and a block by Aidan Rigg and Goss, 8-15
>UCI would try to rally on a 6-1 run of their own which included aces by Flexen and Goss and two kills by Tim Ennis, 15-18  
>UC Santa Barbara would go on to win 25-19

FOURTH SET
>Teams would go back-and-forth until UCI made the first move with three in a row the last a block by Rigg and Goss, 9-7
>The Gauchos answered with four of their own to move in front 12-10
>A kill and ace by Goss tied it again at 12 all
>Three consecutive errors by UCI gave UCSB a 17-15 lead
>A kill by Goss and a block by Ennis and Goss knotted the score, 18-18
>Two kills gave UCSB the 22-20 advantage
>Two Gaucho errors returned the points, 22-22
>Kills by Rigg and Flexen gave UCI set point 28-27 only to watch UCSB tie it again at 28-28
>Kills by Rigg and Flexen worked the second time, 30-28, forcing a fifth set

FIFTH SET
>A kill and solo block by D'Arcy plus an ace from Flexen gave UCI a 3-1 lead
>A kill and a UCI error would tie it at 5-5
>Back-to-back kills by Goss and D'Arcy gave UCI the 7-5 cushion
>UCSB would creep within one several times before a kill by Flexen out of the back row and a UCSB attack into the net forced a Gaucho timeout, 13-10
>UCI would side-out for the win with D'Arcy landing the kill for the match, 15-12

NOTES
>The Anteaters took the win without Hilir Henno and Maxim Grigoriev
>UCI is 3-1 in five game matches this season
>Weber is perfect in attacking, 8-0-8, over the last two matches

UP NEXT
The teams will meet again Saturday (Apr. 12) at the Bren Events Center Saturday. First serve is 6:00 p.m.