Pilots Fall to UC Irvine

Portland hung tough in game two, charging back from a 17-10 deficit.

Photo courtesy: UP Athletics

IRVINE, Calif. - The Portland volleyball team fell to the University of California Irvine Friday night, dropping a straight-set 3-0 (30-12, 30-21, 30-25) match the Anteaters.

The Pilots drop to 3-2 on the year while UC Irvine improves to a perfect 5-0.

Just hours after winning a thrilling 3-2 match over Wyoming, the Pilots couldn’t keep up with the Anteaters in game one, unable to recover after quickly falling behind 7-0.

Portland hung tough in game two, charging back from a 17-10 deficit to cut the lead to 22-19 on back-to-back kills by junior Jennifer Sheedy and freshman Jessica Clemens. But the Anteaters pulled away as Larissa Nordyke recorded three kills over the final eight points.

The Pilots put up 25 in the third set, but the Anteaters proved to be too much as Kristin Kelley logged four kills and three block assists to help UCI prevail.

UC Irvine’s Kari Pestolesi led all players with 13 kills for the match. Clemens led Portland with eight kills.

The Anteaters hit a blistering .387 for the match, while the Pilots struggled and hit just .071.

Portland concludes the UC Irvine Nike Invitational on Saturday against Toledo at 5:00 p.m.

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