‘Eaters lauded

UC Irvine juniors Kari Pestolesi and Juliane Piggott received honorable mention for the All-West Region team by the American Volleyball Coaches Assn. The honor is the third for Pestolesi, while Piggott earns her first accolade from the AVCA.

Pestolesi, a three-time first-team All-Big West Conference performer, ranks No. 68 in the nation in kills with a 3.87 per-set average. The outside hitter also is ranked 53rd in points per set (4.47) and 77th in aces at 0.36. She topped the team in kills with 437, aces with 41 and was second in digs with 442 to post the sixth-best mark in the UCI single-season record books. Pestolesi, an AVCA National Player of the Week, accumulated 23 double-double (kills/digs) matches this season for the Anteaters. She had a season-high 23 kills twice this season and picked up a season-best 26 digs in her lone stint as the team’s libero in a sweep against Seattle University. She finished the season ranked fourth in the Big West in kills, third in aces and sixth in digs.

Piggott, a transfer from UCLA and former Corona del Mar High standout, also earned first-team All-Big West honors this season. The outside hitter was 10th in the Big West in kill average at 3.15 and totaled 353. She also was fourth in aces with 26 and digs with 198 while totaling 52 blocks for UCI. Piggott had six double-double (kills/digs) matches for the Anteaters and recorded a career-high 27 kills in the Big West Conference title showdown against Long Beach State. She also totaled a career-best 16 digs twice this year and put up a personal-best five block assists against UC Davis.

UCI finished the season 22-8, reaching 20 wins for the fifth time. The eight losses are the fewest for UCI since 1978 while the win-loss percentage of .733 is the best in program history. UCI was 11-5 in conference to tie for second.

— From staff reports