Anteaters Win Third in a Row with Reverse Sweep at CBU

Saturday, October 3

Riverside, Calif.

6:00 PM

UC Irvine

5-10,3-1Big West

California Baptist

3-12,0-4Big West

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
UC Irvine	18	26	25	25	15	3
California Baptist	25	28	21	22	13	2

Box Score (PDF)

UCI women's volleyball players Memphis Burnett, Taylor Boice, and Nicole Feliciano celebrate on the court after winning a point.

Photo by: Matt Brown

Anteaters Win Third in a Row with Reverse Sweep at CBU

October 03, 2026 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - UC Irvine women's volleyball extended their win streak to three with a reverse sweep over California Baptist Saturday evening at Van Dyne Gym. Set scores were 18-25, 26-28, 25-21, 25-22, 15-13.

CBU came out firing in the first set where it hit .379. The Lancers cooled off considerably in the second, but managed to hold on to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Anteaters then dug deep as they overcame an early four-point deficit in the third and five-point deficit in the fourth to stay alive. The 'Eaters kept the momentum in the decisive frame and staved off a late push from California Baptist to improve to 5-10 overall and 3-1 in conference.

Junior opposite Ava Gronemeyer led UCI with a match-high 15 kills on .278 hitting. She also had three digs and three blocks.

Senior setter Nicole Feliciano added eight kills, a team-best 29 assists, five digs, and two blocks. Fifth-year Kendra MacDonald sparked the comeback effort as she played in the final three sets where she totaled seven kills. Freshman Taylor Boice contributed seven kills and three blocks.

Sophomore middle Abby Pekrul registered a team-high six blocks, while junior libero Whitney Wallace led all players with 24 digs.

It was an evenly played match with both teams recording 58 kills and five aces. UC Irvine held a narrow 69-68 edge in digs and CBU had a 17-14 advantage in blocks. Both sides hit under .200. Emery DeJong paced the Lancers with 18 kills and 11 digs. Nalanie Neal also had 17 kills and 11 digs, while Maddie Brown had 37 assists and 18 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED: California Baptist (3-12, 0-4 Big West) pulled out front to start the opening set. UC Irvine kept it close as it trailed by only two when the Lancers went on an 11-3 run to open up an 18-8 lead. The Anteaters tried to rally late, but it wasn't enough with CBU closing out the 25-18 victory.

The 'Eaters scored the first four points and took a 7-2 advantage on a Feliciano kill in set two. That was UCI's largest lead as the home team came right back to knot it up at 9-all. The seesaw battle continued with 11 more ties and seven lead changes. Back-to-back kills for the Lancers eventually ended it at 28-26.

California Baptist was on top 7-3 in the third frame when MacDonald came off the bench and made an immediate impact with three kills in a 6-1 run that put UC Irvine in front, 9-8. After trading points, the Anteaters proceeded to outscore CBU, 7-2, to make it 17-12. The 'Eaters would not relinquish that lead en route to the 25-21 win.

The Lancers reclaimed the momentum early in the fourth where they went up, 5-0. A Brianna Brewer kill got UCI on the board and the Anteaters started to chip away, using a 7-3 spurt to tie it up at 11. MacDonald and Gronemeyer each had two kills during that stretch. It remained close with neither side going up by more than two until UC Irvine broke a 17-17 deadlock with three unanswered points. California Baptist came right back to even the set at 20-all, but the 'Eaters then scored five of the next seven for the 25-22 win.

UCI started the decisive fifth set with a Gronemeyer kill, a Tata Vongfak ace, and a Boice kill. The Anteaters continued to side out until the Lancers made a 7-3 push to go up, 11-10. The two teams went back-and-forth before consecutive CBU hitting errors gave UC Irvine set point at 14-13. The Anteaters then closed the door with a double block from Boice and Pekrul.

UP NEXT: UC Irvine will look to extend its three-match win streak next weekend when it welcomes new Big West foes Utah Valley (Oct. 9) and Sacramento State (Oct. 10) to the Bren Events Center.

NOTES
• At least five different 'Eaters had 6+ kills for the second night in a row.
• Ava Gronemeyer notched her second-straight double-digit kill effort.
• Gronemeyer set a career high with 10 kills at UCR on Friday before topping that with 15 tonight.
• Whitney Wallace had her sixth 20+ dig match the season.
• Wallace leads the Big West with 4.94 digs per set in conference matches.
• Kendra MacDonald was playing in her second match of the year after making her season debut yesterday.
• UCI was 0-8 when losing the first set until this weekend when the Anteaters came back back from an 0-1 deficit to win both matches.
• This was their first five-set win of the season.
• UC Irvine now leads in its all-time series with California Baptist, 3-2.