IRVINE, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton suffered its second straight five-set Big West Conference loss at UC Irvine, 3-2 (17-25, 28-26, 25-19, 24-26, 13-15) Wednesday night at Crawford Court.
Kyra Smith set a new career high with 14 kills and also posted a .500 (14-3-22) attacking percentage for the Titans (0-14, 0-2) and Mackenzie Olsen dished out 50 assists while setting the team to a .219 percentage. Megann Delgado, Kandace Thomas and Kyra Hill each added 11 kills and Paige Reed set a new season high with 20 digs.
For the Anteaters (7-8, 1-2), Harlee Kekauoha led the way with 19 kills and 10 digs while Victoria Dennis added 18.
The fifth set was tight as the teams were tied eight times and traded the lead on seven occasions. But with the score tied at 13, Dennis recorded her 18th kill of the night and then Idara Akpakpa scored her 11th to secure the match for the Anteaters
The Titans fell behind after dropping the first set, hitting just .130 (10-7-23) in the frame while the Anteaters attacked at a .346 (14-5-26) clip. Kyra Smith, Kyra Hill, Megann Delgado and Katelyn Nielsen each had two kills apiece in the frame for the Titans. Victoria Dennis and Ella Rosenfeld led the Anteaters with five and four kills respectively. The Anteaters outscored the Titans 14-8 to finish off the opening frame.
In the second set, the Titans bounced back and fought off three set points and got back-to-back kills from Kandace Thomas to secure the set in overtime and tie the match. Hill and Delgado each recorded four kills in the second while Thomas added three. The teams were tied 16 times in the second and traded the lead seven times before Thomas' consecutive kills to wrap up the set.
The Titans took the lead in the third set with the help of a 10-3 scoring run that turned a 10-9 lead into an eight point cushion. Fullerton hit .300 (13-4-30) in the third while holding the Anteaters to a .135 clip. Thomas and Smith led the way with four kills apiece in the set including back-to-back kills by Smith to close out the set.
Fullerton trailed for much of the fourth set but never fell behind by more than three points. Trailing 23-21, the Titans scraped together a couple of points to finally tie the score for the first time since 14-14 in the set. After trading points, the Anteaters got a kill by Kekauoha and then a combo block from Sydney Wright and Rosenfeld to close out the frame and send the match to a fifth set.
The Titans will return to Titan Gym Friday night to face No. 10 Hawai'i on ESPN3.
