LONG BEACH, Calif. – Third seed UC Irvine fell 3-1 (16-25, 23-25, 25-20, 18-25) to second seed Hawaii in a semifinal of the Big West Championship at the Walter Pyramid.

'I'm exceptionally proud of our body of work, " UCI head coach David Kniffin said.  "We felt like we were championship relevant last year, so the goal was, how do we get championship relevance again with potentially one returning starter. Really proud of the process this year. Just a lot of love for these boys."

UCI (21-9) was led by opposite Karl Apfelbach with 14 kills and middle blocker Scott Stadick with eight kills and five total blocks. Outside hitter Joel Schneidmiller added seven kills, three aces and two blocks. Libero David Parker had a team-high 11 digs and setter Dante Chakravorti totaled 37 set assists.

"We are the only team other than Long Beach that didn't get swept this year, I'm not sure if I've ever been part of a team that didn't have a sweep," Kniffin continued. "We are the only team to sweep BYU and we beat Hawaii in Hawaii. This team competes and has put together another great season."

Hawaii (19-7) was led by Rado Parapunov's 15 kills and four aces. Stijn van Tilburg added 11 kills and Brett Rosenmeier had 10.

Hawaii took control of the first set on a 5-0 run, which included three aces by Rado Parapunov to open a 10-5 lead. UCI would score three in a row to close to 18-14, but UH would score three of their own to extend the lead back to 21-14. An Anteater attack error would give the Rainbow Warriors the 25-16 victory.

A solo block by Stadick, a kill by Apfelbach and a huge block by Stadick and Koubi narrowed the Hawaii lead to 19-18. After a kill by each team, UH would score on a UCI service error and two blocks to extend the margin to 23-19. UCI wouldn't go away, scoring the next three on a kill by Stadick and back-to-back Warrior attack errors, one a block by Stadick (23-22), prompting a Hawaii timeout. A UCI service error killed the momentum and Hawaii would go on to win the second set, 25-23.

UCI came alive in the third set on a 7-2 run which included three aces, two by Joel Schneidmiller, 12-7. Hawaii would score the next three only to watch the Anteaters score three of the next four to regain control, 16-11. UCI held set point 24-18 before two Anteater miscues narrowed the gap to 24-20. A kill by Apfelbach gave UCI the 25-20 win.

Hawaii was hot out of the gate, jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead in the fourth set and never looked back. An ace by Apfelbach and a kill by Koubi made it interesting, 23-18, but Hawaii closed the matches with a pair of blocks, 25-18.

"I play with some of the best student-athletes in the world," senior Logan Zotovich "I think back to my freshman year and every single year we've had All-Americans. I think going to every single game with my brothers and fighting against every single team every game, that's definitely one of my biggest highlights. Every year you come in and think you're going to get to work and I think we did. It was nice going to battle with my brothers. I love competing in this moment."

NOTES: UCI has not been swept this season…UCI hit .208, the third lowest percentage of the season…It was first time Hawaii has beaten UCI in postseason action (2-1)…Stadick moved in to a tie for fifth in UCI career solo blocks with 54…Parker recorded double-figure digs for the 15^th time this season.