Box Score HONOLULU, Hawaii – Outside hitter Aaron Koubi had an impressive offensive performance, but it was not enough as No. 5 UC Irvine fell 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-22, 25-16) at the hands of No. 3 Hawaii in the first Big West Conference men's volleyball match at the Stan Sheriff Center Friday night.

Koubi led UCI (10-4, 0-1) with a season-high tying 17 kills, hitting .500 (17-3-28). The outside hitter also added five digs and three block assists. Opposite Karl Apfelbach added 14 kills, while setter Dante Chakravorti totaled 44 set assists and a team-high nine digs. Middle blockers Scott Stadick and Austin Wilmot led UCI at the net with five and four total blocks respectively. Outside hitter Joel Schneidmiller had eight kills and three block assists. 

Serving was key as the Rainbow Warriors held an 8-2 advantage in aces and UC Irvine committed 15 service errors to Hawaii's 9.

Hawaii (9-1, 1-0) was led by Stijn van Tilburg and Rado Parapunov with 21 kills each. Patrick Gasman had 10 kills, while Joe Worsley had 47 set assists, four aces and six digs.

Hawaii started Big West play off with bang, scoring the first two points on service aces by Joe Worsley. The Anteaters caught up 5-5 on a block by Scott Stadick and Joel Schneidmiller. UCI did not make a hitting mistake (10-1-14) until 15-13 to cause a media timeout. A UCI service error and a block opened a 17-14 lead for the Rainbow Warriors. After a Hawaii service error, UH scored six unanswered to build a 23-15 advantage. The teams would trade points until an Anteater service error gave Hawaii the 25-17 victory. UCI committed six service errors in the set.

In the second set, a kill by Dante Chakravorti and a block by Stadick and Schneidmiller helped the Anteaters to a 7-5 lead. Two UCI errors plus another Worsley ace put Hawaii on top 9-8. The teams remained close until UCI scored four straight on Hawaii service and hitting errors and a pair of Apfelbach kills, 20-16.   With UCI leading 21-17, UH scored three straight to force a UCI timeout, 21-20. The timeout worked as the next Hawaii serve went in to the net. Koubi then tapped two consecutive kills off the block to move UCI back in front 24-20. After a delay of two points, a Hawaii attack went wide to give UCI the 25-22 victory.

A kill and solo block by Stadick gave UCI a 10-7 advantage in the third set. Hawaii would chip away and take the lead 12-11 on a UCI error.  The teams would match each other point for point with Hawaii finally making a move on a kill by Rado Parapunov and a block by Worsley and Patrick Gasman, 22-20. The teams would trade points until the Rainbow Warriors put away back-to-back kills to end the set, 25-22.

Hawaii opened the fourth set with a 7-0 lead and never looked back going on to win the set 25-16 and the match 3-1. The final set was not pretty as Hawaii hit .172 (12-7-29) and UCI hit .033 (7-6-30).   

The two teams will square off again on Sunday (Feb. 23) at 7:00 p.m. PT.

NOTES: This is the second time this year Koubi has led the Anteaters in kills...Koubi also had 17 kill against BYU on Jan. 27...It is the fourth time this year he has hit .500 or better...Wilmot had a career-high three kills (3-0-5) to go with his career-best four blocks...UCI's 15 service errors is the second most this season and Hawaii's 9 service errors is the second fewest by an opponent...UCI held a 9-7 advantage in blocks, the 10th time the Anteaters have out-blocked its opponent 10 times...It is the fifth consecutive loss to Hawaii.