Anteaters Fall to the Tritons in a Hard-Fought Four Sets

Saturday, October 24

Irvine, Calif.

5:00 PM

UC Irvine

9-12,7-3Big West

UC San Diego

10-11,6-4Big West

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
UC San Diego	25	29	21	25	3
UC Irvine	23	27	25	23	1

Box Score (PDF)

Vani Tatoulian goes up for a middle attack in an NCAA women's volleyball match.

October 24, 2026 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine women's volleyball dropped a tightly-contested four-set battle to UC San Diego Saturday evening at the Bren Events Center. Set scores were 23-25, 27-29, 25-21, 23-25.

It was déjà vu up until the end of the fourth set. After pulling off a reverse sweep at UCSD last night, the Anteaters (9-12, 7-3 Big West) once again came up on the short end of a couple two-point sets to start the match. They bounced back to take the third, but this time the Tritons were able to make the plays down the stretch to end it in four and salvage a regular-season series split.

Freshman middle Vani Tatoulian was dominant at the net with a season-high 12 kills and a match-best nine blocks. She committed only one hitting error on 18 swings for a .611 clip. Senior Lois Hansen also reached double figures with a season-high 10 kills.

One day after recording her first career triple-double, senior setter Nicole Feliciano continued to do it all for the 'Eaters, racking up 26 assists, 16 digs, eight kills, seven blocks, and four aces. She surpassed 3,000 career assists, making her just the fourth Anteater in program history to reach the milestone. Sophomore setter Angelina Dellutri also recorded a double-double with 17 assists and 12 digs.

Junior libero Whitney Wallace had her second-straight 20+ dig match as she led all players with 21. Junior outside Madison Triplett added nine digs, while freshman middle Taylor Boice chipped in nine kills and five blocks.

The Anteaters out-dug (83-73) and out-blocked (17-13) UC San Diego. They also held a 7-2 advantage in aces, but committed seven more hitting errors than the Tritons.

Molly McCluskey led UCSD with 24 kills and 11 digs. Ireland McNees also had a double-double with 16 kills and 15 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED: UC San Diego (10-11, 6-4 Big West) scored the first four points of the opening set, but a service error, two kills from Hansen, and a kill from Boice, brought the teams back to square one. After three more ties, the Tritons went on a 10-2 run to pull ahead, 17-9. UCSD stayed out front and still had a comfortable six-point lead at set point. UC Irvine refused to go down quietly, however, as it reeled off five unanswered to cut the deficit to one. The visitors were then able to end the Anteater rally with a kill from McCluskey giving them the 25-23 win.

In the second set, the 'Eaters raced out to a 9-2 advantage on a solo block from Triplett. After calling a timeout, UC San Diego came back to knot the score at 11-11, and went on to use a 7-0 stretch to create some separation at 20-13. UCI eventually answered with a 7-0 run of its own to tie it back up at 23-all. The seesaw battle continued with UC Irvine holding off three set points before going up 27-26 on a Memphis Burnett kill. The Tritons then scored the next three points to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Anteaters got out to a hot start in the third, going on top 11-3 following three-straight kills - two from Feliciano and one from Boice. They kept their foot on the gas, maintaining at least a six-point margin all the way up until taking a 21-13 lead on a Boice/Feliciano double block. UCSD then made a late push, closing the gap to two at 22-20. The 'Eaters sided out on a kill from Izzy Romero and finished strong for the 25-21 victory.

The fourth set was close from start to finish with neither side leading by more than three. UC San Diego took that advantage at the media timeout (15-12), but UCI used a 5-2 spurt to pull even at 17-17. Four more ties followed before the Tritons got a block and a UC Irvine hitting error for match point. A kill by Ava Gronemeyer kept the Anteaters alive, but the Tritons won the next point to take the set and match at 25-23.

UP NEXT: UC Irvine is back in the Bren Events Center next weekend when it hosts league-leading Cal Poly (Oct. 30) and UC Santa Barbara (Oct. 31).

NOTES
• Nicole Feliciano has 3,004 career assists to rank fourth in school history.
• She needs 41 more to crack UCI's all-time top-three.
• Feliciano is also now tied for 10th among the program leaders with 1,046 career digs.
• Whitney Wallace had her second-straight 20+ dig effort, and ninth of the season.
• Wallace, who leads the Big West with 4.40 digs/set, has reached double digits in 18 consecutive outings.
• UCI has 10+ total team blocks in each of its last four matches.
• UC Irvine dropped to third in the Big West standings, sitting one game back of second-place Long Beach State.