CORVALLIS, Ore. – UC Irvine lost in straight sets to UNLV (13-25, 22-25, 15-26) in the first match of the Asics Invitational at Gill Coliseum Thursday.

The Rebels recorded eight aces and eight blocks to hold the Anteaters to a .053 hitting percentage (29-24-94).

Sophomore Madison Triplett led the Anteaters with a career-high nine kills. She also added four digs and two block assists.

Setter Jessica Bates made her 2025 debut, posting six kills, 12 set assists, five digs, two aces and two block assists.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Libero Campbell Jensen had a match-best 13 digs
>Opposite Lois Hansen totaled five kills, three digs and a block assist
>Outside hitter Kendra MacDonald added four kills, two aces, a dig and a solo block
>Freshman setter Angelina Dellutri recorded her first career double-double with 10 set assists and a career-high 10 digs. She also put away two kills
>UCI (3-4) held a 37-34 advantage in digs
>UNLV improved to 4-2 behind Alondra Alarcon's nine kills
>The Rebels hit .300 (36-9-90) for the match

FIRT SET
>Jessica Bates made her Anteater debut and had UC Irvine's first kill of the match before UNLV scored the next seven on UCI service and attack errors, a kill and four aces to lead 8-1
>Bates then stood alongside Sydnee Rowe for a block only to watch the Rebels rattle off four in a row to open a 14-3 lead
>A kill and solo block by Kendra MacDonald looked to get UCI going, 6-16
>The Anteaters strung four in a row on a Madison Triplett kill, an ace by MacDonald, a Rebel setting error and kill by Bates, 12-21
>UNLV would close the set with three consecutive kills, 25-13
>UCI hit -.097 (6-9-31), while UNLV had five aces in the set

SECOND SET
>A kill and two Anteater attack errors, the last on a block helped the Rebels to an early 3-0 lead
>A kill by MacDonald was followed by a block by Rowe and Triplett, 3-4
>Rowe recorded her first ace as an Anteater (6-7) then Abby Pekrul recorded her first collegiate kill to close the score to 7-8
>Bates put away back-to-back kills, 9-11
>A kill by Triplett and a Rebel attack error kept the Anteaters close, 13-15
>A kill by Rowe was followed by a 5-1 UNLV run to stretch the Rebel lead to 21-15
>A block by Bates and Ally Bolden and a UNLV attack error made it 17-21 only to watch UNLV score two of their own, 23-17
>UNLV held match point before UCI rallied on a service error, two aces by Bates and a kill by Hansen, forcing a UNLV timeout, 22-25
>A kill out of the break gave the Rebels a 25-22 victory
>UCI was better from the service line, logging three aces and not committing a receiving error

THIRD SET
>Once again UCI started slowly, watching UNLV get out to a 7-2 lead
>UCI would score three in a row, a kill by Angelina Dellutri, a block by Triplett and Bolden and a Rebel error closing the gap to 7-9
>Four UCI miscues followed in a 5-0 run to push the UNLV lead to 14-7
>UCI kept fighting, using a kill by Bates and an ace by MacDonald, 13-21
>UNLV would go on to a 25-15 victory to end the match

NOTES
>Jensen has recorded double-digit digs in every match this season
>MacDonald leads the team with five solo blocks

UP NEXT
UCI will face host Oregon State tomorrow at 6:30 p.m.