OGDEN, UT – UC Irvine opened the 2025 season with a sweep of Southern Utah (25-15, 25-22, 25-13) in the first match of the Wildcat Invitational held in Swenson Gym Friday.
 
UCI dominated the net, out-blocking the Thunderbirds 13-3. Middle blockers Ally Bolden (2-3) and Elizabeth Miller (1-4) each had a career and team-best five total blocks. Bolden also had a career-best seven kills, hitting .313. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Kendra MacDonald led the Anteaters with nine kills. She added four digs and four total blocks, three solos
>Freshman Lillian Lansing was impressive, posting eight kills, three aces and 10 digs
>Setter Nicole Feliciano recorded 24 set assists, two digs and two block assists
>Senior Kendra Duffey totaled seven kills in the opener
>Senior libero Campbell Jensen led all players with 11 digs
>Outside hitter Madison Triplett logged seven digs and two kills and an ace
>The Anteaters out-hit the Thunderbirds .226 to .021
>Southern Utah was led by Amaya Tobias, hitting .462 with a team-high seven kills 

FIRST SET
>UCI started off with a pair of blocks, the first a solo by Kendra MacDonald and the second by the duo of Elizabeth Miller and Lillian Lansing
>A pair of UCI attack errors drew the set even 2-2
>UCI broke open the set on a 7-0 run which included two kills by Kendra Duffey and Ally Bolden, two aces by Lansing and a SUU attack error to take an 11-4 lead
>Three consecutive UCI errors moved SUU to 10-15
>Duffey continued to power the Anteaters with a pair of kills to put UCI up 19-13
>UCI closed out the set with five in a row, on a kill by Bolden, a block by Miller and MacDonald, a kill by Madison Triplett, a Thunderbird attack error and a final kill by MacDonald, 25-15
>UCI had four blocks and held SUU to a .000 hitting percentage (6-6-32)

SECOND SET
>The Thunderbirds started with the first two points before Lansing and Bolden put away kills to knot the score 2-2
>A pair of blocks by Bolden, one assisted and one solo, gave UCI a 6-3 advantage
>SUU rattled off three straight to move in front 8-7, but UCI responded with a kill by Triplett, and solo blocks by Miller and MacDonald, 10-8  
>Southern Utah would score the next two and the team would battle back and forth until back-to-back kills by MacDonald put the Anteaters up for good, 21-19 and forcing a SUU timeout
>Consecutive kills by Duffey and MacDonald put UCI at set point then each team would record a service error to hand UCI the 25-22 victory   

THIRD SET
>UCI block continued to dominate with a solo by MacDonald and an assisted by Miller and Lansing giving UCI a 3-0 lead
>SUU peeled off four in a row, including two aces to move in front 8-7
>An Anteater block started a 14-2 run which included three kills by MacDonald and aces by Triplett and Angelina Dellutri, 21-10  
>UCI ended the set on two Thunderbird errors and a kill by Lansing, 25-13

NOTES
>Angelina Dellutri made her Anteater debut, dishing seven set assists and totaling two digs and an ace

UP NEXT
In a quick turnaround, UCI is back in action at 6:30 p.m. PT to face host Weber State tonight.