SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- The Tusculum men's volleyball team continued its time at the UCSB ASICS Invitational by facing No. 3 University of California Irvine on Friday (Jan. 10) afternoon.

The Pioneers (0-2) fell to the highly-ranked Anteaters (2-0) by scores of 25-12, 25-14, 25-14.

UC Irvine has two previous National Player of the Year winners on its roster and they lived up to their billing. Nolan Flexen, the 2023 NAIA honoree, finished with 14 kills on a .478 hitting percentage, while Hilir Henno, the reigning Division I awardee, tallied an errorless 13 kills on a .619 clip. Aidan Rigg dished out 28 assists, as Maxim Grigoriev landed five service aces. Flexen also recorded a match-best five digs. Both he and Micah Goss were credited with a pair of blocks.

For Tusculum, Deklan Wingo tallied nine kills on a .438 average, followed by Morgan Makovec on an errorless 5-for-6 (.833) outing. Joel Dubinsky (4), Donovan Nye (2), and Caleb Hammann (1) added to the offense. Kevin Blankenship was credited with 13 assists, while Riley Wisniakowski made his collegiate debut with six assists. Taylor West headed up the back row with four digs.

UC Irvine hit .477 as a team with 37 kills and six errors on 65 total attempts. Tusculum hit .161 with 21 kills, 12 errors, and 56 total attacks. The Anteaters led the Pioneers in assists (34-21), service aces (13-0), digs (20-17), and total blocks (4-0).

Tusculum wraps up the ASICS Invitational on Saturday (Jan. 11) night against the hosting UC Santa Barbara. First serve between the Pioneers and Gauchos is scheduled for 10 p.m. EST. The contest will also be streamed on ESPN+.