No. 7 UC Irvine Topples No. 3 Pepperdine, 3-1

Friday, January 16

Malibu, CA

6:00 PM

UC Irvine

5-0,0-0Big West

Pepperdine

2-1,0-0MPSF

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
UC Irvine	25	26	22	25	3
Pepperdine	23	24	25	20	1

No. 7 UC Irvine Topples No. 3 Pepperdine, 3-1

January 16, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Stacey Shackleford

MALIBU, Calif. – The duo of opposite William D'Arcy and outside hitter Andrej Jokanovic powered No. 7 UC Irvine to a 3-1 upset of No. 3 Pepperdine (25-23, 26-24, 22-25, 25-20) at Firestone Fieldhouse Friday evening.

In the pivotal second set, UCI trailed by as many as nine before closing with a 10-3 run to capture the 26-24 victory. D'Arcy hit .833 (5-0-6) with two aces in the late surge.

For the match, D'Arcy had a season-high 19 kills, hitting .630 (19-2-27). His 19 kills are toed for seventh most in the country this season and third most by a Big West player. He also had three aces and five digs.

Jokanovic had a career-best 17 kills while recording six digs and an ace in the win.

UCI improves to 5-0, dropping just one set in 2026. Pepperdine suffers its first loss (2-1).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>UCI hit .376 (59-15-117) to Pepperdine's .406 mark (49-10-96). The Waves also out-blocked the Anteaters 8-2. UCI held the slight 6-5 advantage in aces
>Middle blocker Micah Goss hit .500 with a season-high eight kills
>Freshman Andreas Brinck made his first career start totaling four kills, five digs, an ace and a block assist
>Setter Aidan Rigg had a season-high 21 set assists to go with three digs and a block assist
>Middle blocker Trevor Clark recorded six kills and two block assists
>Libero Shane Aitken had a match-high seven digs
>Setter Cameron Kosty tallied 11 set assists and three kills, while setter Aidan Schulten had nine set assists and two kills
>Pepperdine had a trio of players with double-digit kills led by Ryan Barnett's 15
>Both teams gave away points with UCI committing 22 service errors and Pepperdine 19

FIRST SET
>Two kills and a block helped Pepperdine to a 12-9 lead
>The Waves held a 14-12 lead before UCI used three consecutive kills, one by Trevor Clark and two by Andrej Jokanovic to move in front 15-14
>Tied at 22-22, William D'Arcy pounded a pair of kills to get to set point, 24-22
>After a Wave kill, D'Arcy ended the set with a kill from the right side, 25-23

SECOND SET
>Pepperdine dominated the set leading 18-10 and again 19-12
>UCI began to chip away on a kill by Clark, an ace by Andreas Brinck and a kill by D'Arcy
>D'Arcy took of the set, putting UCI on his back scoring four points, two kills and two aces, in a 7-1 run to give UCI its first lead, 23-22
>The Waves flipped the script with a kill and ace by Cole Hartke to get Pepperdine to set point, 24-23
>A Wave service error was followed by a kills from Aidan Schulten and D'Arcy to give UCI the 26-24

THIRD SET
>Pepperdine once again controlled the set early and would hold a 23-16 lead before the Anteaters exploded on a 5-0 run which included three kills by Jokanovic to narrow the deficit, 21-23
>The teams traded service errors to end the match, the last handing Pepperdine the 25-22 victory

FOURTH SET
>UCI moved out to an 11-8 lead on a pair of kills by D'Arcy and another from Micah Goss in the middle
>A kill by Jokanovic and a block by Clark and Aidan rigg extended the lead to 17-13
>Three consecutive kills by D'Arcy gave the Anteaters a 21-15 lead
>Brinck would end the match with a kill, 25-20

NOTES
>UCI has won the last four outings with the Waves
>Jokanovic has recorded double-figure kills three times this season

UP NEXT
>UCI travels to No. 8 BYU for a pair of matches Friday and Saturday (Jan. 23 and 24) at Smith Fieldhouse.