Box Score IRVINE, Calif. – Powered by Harlee Kekauoha and Brianna Montgomery's career-highs, UC Irvine beat CSUN 3-1 (25-19, 25-18, 19-25, 25-22) at the Bren Events Center Saturday.

UCI remains undefeated at home (6-0) and improves to 15-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big West.

Opposite Harlee Kekauoha led the Anteaters with a career-high tying 22 kills to go with 11 digs, two aces and two block assists. The junior hit .500 (22-4-36) on her way to matching her career-high in kills.

Outside hitter Brianna Montgomery added a career-best 10 kills.

"We talked to Brianna this week about not thinking too much," head coach Ashlie Hain said. "It was nice to see her be herself tonight and bang balls and be confident and take smart shots."

Middle blocker Idara Akpakpa also had 10 kills, hitting .533 (10-2-15), while outside hitter Haley DeSales recorded nine kills. Setter Ali Koumelis tallied 45 set assists and 11 digs and libero Luna Tsujimoto had a match-high 18 digs.

CSUN (10-8, 4-2) was led by Aeryn Owen with 14 kills, followed by Rachel Diaz with 13 and Morgan Sloan with 10. Libero Katie Sato recorded 16 digs.

The Anteaters out-hit (.272-.211) and out-dug (56-49) the Matadors with the teams coming up the same in aces (6) and blocks (6).

CSUN used three UCI attack errors and a kill to move out to a 5-2 lead in the first set. The Anteaters chipped away and kills by Danika Ferguson and Harlee Kekauoha plus a CSUN attack error tied the set at 10-10. Another Kekauoha kill, an ace by Luna Tsujimoto and a kill by Idara Akpakpa put the Anteaters on top, 13-11. UCI went up 19-15 on an Akpakpa kill before CSUN rallied scoring three unanswered to narrow the margin to 19-18. A DeSales kill stopped the momentum then Kekauoha hammered a ball down to give UCI a 22-18 lead. Following a Matador kill, the Anteaters would score the final three points of the set, 25-19.

UCI went on a 4-1 run, which included two Kekauoha kills to give UCI the 13-11 advantage in the second set. UCI scored five straight behind the strength of Kekauoha's serving to open an 18-12 advantage and the Anteaters would go on to take the set 25-18.

In the third set, the Matadors used a 4-0 run to open an 8-6 lead then an Aeryn Owens kill extended the lead to 14-9. CSUN would never look back, winning 25-19. UCI would hit .147 (11-6-34) in the set.

UCI jumped out to a quick 5-0 start in the fourth set, using three kills and a block assist by Kekauoha and an ace by Ali Koumelis. CSUN battled back to tie the score at 13-13 then following a UCI timeout, Katie Sato fired an ace to put the Matadors in front for the first time 14-13. With CSUN leading 16-15, Kekauoha had a kill and an ace then a block by Akpakpa and Koumelis gave UCI the 18-16 advantage. That was all the separation UCI needed as they would win the set 25-22 on a kill from DeSales.

UCI travels to cross-county rival Cal State Fullerton Friday (Oct. 13) for a 7:00 p.m. match at Titan Gym.