IRVINE, Calif. – The Holy Cross volleyball team was defeated 3-0 by California-Irvine Friday morning during the opening match of the UCI/Adidas Invitational.

The victory brought the host Anteaters to 2-2 on the season while the Crusaders fell to 1-4 overall.
 
SET SCORES:

• Anteaters 3, Crusaders 0 (14-25, 15-25, 12-25)

 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Freshman Rachel Johnson recorded a kill to cut the early margin to 6-2. A senior Halle Carter skip set with back-to-back Anteater attack errors made it 12-6. Sophomore Abbie Lane kept the Crusaders within seven, bashing a kill down the line for the 14-7 deficit. On set point, the Crusaders earned kills from senior Gracyn Benck and Johnson before the Anteaters wrapped up the first set win.
• UCI tallied the first four points of the second set until Lane smoked one from the back row for the Crusaders' first point. Three in a row including a kill off the swing of sophomore Lauren Halverson made it a 12-10 set. A 5-1 Anteater scoring burst expanded the lead to 17-11. A Johnson mash from the back row kept it a six point 19-13 set. Holy Cross amassed only two more points in the set.
• Halverson started the third set with a middle mash set up by freshman Katie Russell. Benck added a point onto the lead upping the margin to 3-1. UCI erupted for a 12-1 run to take a 13-4 advantage. Lane halted the scoring spurt with a thunderous kill from the left pin, however UCI clinched the match victory.

 
INSIDE THE BOX:

• Johnson led all Crusaders with nine kills.
• Lane was three kills and three digs shy of a double-double. She finished the match with seven kills and seven digs.
• Marianna Bertolone paced all players with 13 kills while hitting .600 for the Anteaters.
• UCI ran with two setter and both had 15+ assists.

 
UP NEXT:

• Holy Cross will play two matches tomorrow against nonconference opponent Sacred Heart at 1 p.m. EST and Dartmouth at 5 p.m. EST.

 
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