IRVINE, Calif. – It was history in the making in CU Arena on Wednesday night. The Concordia men's volleyball team toppled over No. 5 UC Irvine in straight sets giving Shawn Patchell his 100th career victory as Concordia's head coach.
 
Not only was this the first win over a ranked team this season, it was the first time in program history that the Eagles have defeated the Anteaters.
 
"For the first time beating UCI and sweeping them, it was huge for us," said Raymond Barsemian. "We could tell when this was going to be our point where we were just going to go higher and higher and start winning more games."
 
The junior opposite shared a team-high 13 kills with Jordan Hoppe. Following close behind was Zachary Meyer who had 12 of his own while hitting .400 and had a career-high nine digs. Hunter Howell hit .700 for the night with seven kills and Chandler Gibb set his team to a .355 hitting percentage with 39 assists to go along with his eight digs.
 
"I think what we did well was our passing, so our passing is what got us our offense and we did a lot better on blocking," said libero Addison Enriques who had 25 receptions with just one error.
 
Noah Lassandro put pressure on the UCI serve receive early, serving up an ace and giving an overpass for a free swing for Howell to put the Eagles up 4-1. Tied up at 17-17, Hoppe and Barsemian tag teamed attacks from each pins to put Concordia up 20-17. A good pass from Enriques allowed Gibb to set up Howell in the middle to clinch the set at 25-22.
 
The momentum did not shift in set two as the Eagles held leads from the get go, being ahead 11-8. The Anteaters crawled back within one just before the Eagles would pulled away at 17-13. Multiple errors for UC Irvine allowed Concordia to go on a 6-2 run that was also fueled by Barsemian kills to take set two 25-19.
 
Meyer and Howell each continued to have the hot hand to put CUI up 9-6. A kill from Lassandro followed by a triple block had the Eagles lead 21-15 and then later spurred a 3-0 run to set up match point 24-18. Tough serving kept from UC Irvine kept Concordia fans on their toes, fighting off three match points but a block by Barsemian and Lassandro closed out the match 25-21.
 
"I was very curious to see how we responded in game three especially after last week," added Patchell. "I saw some breathing going on and some smiles and those were telltale signs that we were poised to really compete and that we were in a good state of mind."
 
The Eagles head on the road to take on No. 10 USC on Mar. 16 at 7 PM in Los Angeles, Calif.
 
For the full Concordia men's volleyball schedule click here.