IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine opened the Big West schedule with a three-set loss to Black & Blue rival Long Beach State (16-25, 25-27, 15-25) Friday night at the Bren Events Center in front of a crowd of 1,067 fans.

Senior Kendra Duffey led the Anteaters with eight kills and two block assists.

Long Beach State registered 10 total blocks, which is tied for the most against UCI this season. They also fired 11 aces, the second most versus UCI this season.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Reigning Big West Freshman of the Week Jessica Bates recorded five kills, nine set assists and four digs
>Lois Hansen added five kills and two block assists
>Middle blocker Sydnee Rowe had four kills and four total blocks (two solo)
>Setter Nicole Feliciano totaled 12 set assists, team-high eight digs, a block assist and kill
>Middle blocker Abby Pekrul totaled three kills and four total blocks (1 solo)
>Libero Campbell Jensen matched Feliciano with eight digs
>LBSU's Logan King had a match-best 12 kills

FIRST SET
>UCI had four in a row, the last a kill by Sydnee Rowe in the middle to put the Anteaters in front 7-5
>LBSU answered with the next six, three on kills and three on Anteater attack errors, 11-7
>A kill, ace and a block forced a UCI timeout as The Beach increased the gap to 17-10
>Out of the break, LBSU used another block and an Anteater attack that sailed long (19-10) before a kill by Jessica Bates and a solo block by Rowe stopped the LBSU streak, 12-19
>The Beach would not relinquish the lead and win 25-16 with a .300 hitting percentage (13-4-30). UCI would hit just .036 (9-8-28)

SECOND SET
>A block that went straight down by Kendra Duffey and Rowe gave UCI the 2-1 lead
>Another block by Duffey and Rowe was followed by a Beach attack error, 5-5
>Pekrul pounded back-to-back kills which were followed by a Beach error to put the Anteaters up 10-8
>Long Beach State had their third ace of the set to take a 13-12 advantage
>Two kills, a block and an ace extended LBSU's lead to 19-16
>A block by Pekrul and Nicole Feliciano plus a LBSU error tightened the score to 18-19
>Duffey pounded a pair of kills with a Campbell Jensen ace in between to move the Anteaters in front, 23-21
>LBSU answered with two kills to knot the score at 23s
>Teams would trade points until Long Beach ended the set with two kills and an ace, 27-25
>The set featured 16 ties and eight lead changes

THIRD SET
>Long Beach State started with the early 7-2 lead, the last an ace
>Another four in a row capped by another ace helped The Beach to a 14-5 lead
>A block and kill by Rowe tried to rally the Anteaters, 10-18
>UCI would continue to battle using a kill by Lois Hansen, two Beach attack errors and two aces by Emma Napoleon, 15-23
>The Beach would win on an ace, 25-15

NOTES
>Pekrul has 10 blocks over the last two matches, including her first collegiate solo block tonight
>Emma Napoleon had two aces
>UCI is 5-8 overall and 0-1 in the Big West, while LBSU is 8-4 and 1-0

UP NEXT
UCI will host UC San Diego tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.