COSTA MESA, Calif. – No. 5 UC Irvine improved to 10-0 with a 3-1 victory (25-19, 24-26, 25-13, 25-16) over Vanguard at the Freed Center for Leadership Wednesday night.

The Anteaters' 10 straight wins to start the year ties the school record, matching the 2025 and 2003 teams.

UCI was led by outside hitter Andrej Jokanovic with 12 kills, seven digs, two blocks and two aces.

Opposite William D'Arcy followed recording 11 kills hitting .400 (11-1-25) with two aces and two blocks.

Middle blocker Trevor Clark hit .833 (10-0-12), the sixth best hitting performance nationally (attempts 10-14). He also had four total blocks (1 solo).

The Anteaters out-hit (.410-.176) and out-blocked (10.5-3.5) the Lions

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Andon Kiriakou tallied seven kills and a match-high eight digs
>Setter Cameron Kosty totaled 34 set assists, four digs, four total blocks (1 solo) and an ace
>Middle blocker Micah Goss had four blocks (1 solo), three aces, three kills and two digs
>Vanguard's Logan Freeman had a match-high 17 kills

FIRST SET
>The match started with a Cameron Kosty ace followed by a Andrej Jokanovic kill off the block, 2-0
>UCI scored five straight on kills by Trevor Clark in the middle and Andon Kiriakou on the outside plus two Lion attack errors and Goss kill on an overpass, 8-3
>Vanguard would peel off nine in a row to take a 13-9 lead
>Micah Goss stepped back to the service line and got the Anteaters back into the set with a pair of aces and a kill by Clark tied the set at 14-14
>Clark deposited an overpass onto the floor to move UCI back in front 16-15
>Two Vanguard errors helped give the Anteaters some separation 20-18
>A kill by William D'Arcy was followed by three Lion points, the last two on UCI attack errors to put Vanguard on top 22-21
>Tough serving by Goss led the way to the final points for UCI, including a block by Kosty and Clark. Clark ended the set with a kill, 25-23

SECOND SET
>Two kills and an ace gave Vanguard an early 6-3 lead
>A kill by Kiriakou and a Lion error edged the Anteaters closer, 7-8
>A block by Goss and Kiriakou tied the set at 13-13
>A 4-1 run by UCI that included an ace by Kiriakou and three Lions errors put the Anteaters up 18-16
>Vanguard answered with a kill and two aces moving the Lions in front, 20-19
>Jokanovic passed a ball then came flying out of the backrow for a kill before Goss and Kosty put up a wall for a block, 23-22
>UCI would have set point 24-23 only to watch Vanguard score the final three on two kills and an ace to win 26-24

THIRD SET
>Starting with Goss serving, UCI jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead started by a block from Clark and Kosty
>A pair of Lion errors helped UCI to a 6-2 advantage
>A Goss solo block made it 9-4
>Kosty fed Clark the ball for a pair of kills and a Jokanovic ace gave UCI a 17-10 lead
>UCI scored the final five points on a kill by Goss that was followed by a Schulten one-handed flick to Micah Tumas for a kill on the right side. A Lion attack error, a solo block and kill by Jokanovic ended the set, 25-13

FOURTH SET
>Two kills each by D'Arcy and Jokanovic and a triple block gave the Anteaters a 7-2 lead
>A kill by Goss, two aces by D'Arcy, a solo block by Kosty and a Lion error extended the lead to 14-6
>Back-to-back kills by Kiriakou made it 22-13
>D'Arcy ended the set 25-16

NOTES
>UCI has recorded double-digit blocks in each of the last four matches
>Aidan Cuppett made his debut, adding a dig
>Jokanovic continued his streak of an ace in every match this season

UP NEXT
UCI heads to Concordia Friday (Feb. 6) for a 7:00 p.m. match at CU Arena.