American University Volleyball Head Coach Barry Goldberg became the seventh active Division I coach to earn 600 career wins at a single program as the Eagles went 1-1 to open the UC Irvine Invitational. American fell to host UC Irvine, 3-1, in its first loss of the year and bounced back with a 3-2 victory over Fresno State for Coach Goldberg's 600th win.

American (11-1) jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in the first set against UC Irvine and went up 15-7 on a kill from Juliana Crum. The Anteaters tallied six straight points to make it a three-point match but back-to-back kills from Kelly McCaddin and Bree Scarbrough put American back up, 18-13. The Eagles were able to hold off UC Irvine, winning the first set, 25-17. 

UC Irvine (8-4) took an early lead in the second set with American knotting it up nine times before the Anteaters went on a 6-0 run for the 24-18 advantage. A kill from Crum prevented set point but UC Irvine tied the match with a kill from Aly Squires for the 25-19 win.

The Anteaters took a 17-9 lead early in the third set before the Eagles rallied to make it a two-point match, 20-18, on a kill by Crum, forcing UC Irvine to call a timeout. American cut its deficit to two before the Anteaters posted consecutive tallies for the 25-21 win. 

The Eagles held a 6-2 advantage in the fourth set but UC Irvine rallied to tie it up at 10 all on a block by Shannon Fleming and Shelley Anderson. The set was tied three more times before the Anteaters broke away to take a 24-20 lead. After a service error by Allison Lee gave American the point, UC Irvine was able to hand the Eagles its first loss of the season with a 25-21 victory in set four.

Crum and Kylann Scheidt each posted double-doubles in the match. Crum posted 12 kills and 16 digs while Scheidt finished with a team-high 25 assists and 12 digs. Kristyna Lindovska tallied a team-best 13 kills and Megan Rosburg notched 20 digs. McCaddin had six blocks in the match. 

American outhit the Anteaters, .284 to .183, for the match. Lee led UC Irvine with 15 kills and Anderson posted 40 assists.

The Eagles bounced back to defeat Fresno State (5-6), 3-2, in its second match of the day to give Coach Goldberg his 600th career win. The first set went back and forth before the Bulldogs closed out the set with an 8-3 run for the 25-18 win. 

American went up 13-7 early in the second set as Fresno State called a timeout. The Eagles continued to roll, going up 23-12 on a kill from McCaddin. A Lindovska kill tied the match at one set apiece as American won the second set, 25-16. The Bulldogs led the third set, 13-5, and were able to hold off an Eagles' rally with a 25-18 win for the 2-1 match lead.

The fourth set was tied five times before American was able to notch four straight points to go up 15-11. The Eagles strung together four consecutive tallies for a 19-12 advantage and held off a Fresno State rally for the 25-19 win to tie the match once again. 

The Bulldogs went up 5-3 early but American tied it up at six all and a block from Morgan Hendrix and Lindvoska gave the Eagles a 7-6 advantage. A 3-0 run for American put the Eagles up 10-7 and back-to-back kills from Crum secured the 15-10 set five victory.

Crum tallied her second straight double-double in the match, leading American with 20 kills, 14 kills and hitting .400 on the night. Lindovska added 15 kills and Monika Smidova paced the offense with 36 assists. Hendrix recorded six blocks. The Eagles hit .225 as a team in the match. 

Marissa Brand led Fresno State with the double-double, posting 21 kills and 11 digs. Christina Lee had 48 assists and Bowens added 11 digs.

American continues play in the UC Irvine Invitational tomorrow, Saturday, September 21, against Xavier at 2 p.m. EST.