Box Score HONOLULU, Hawaii – UC Irvine pushed No. 1 Hawaii to the limit, but the Rainbow Warriors edged the Anteaters 3-2 (25-22, 25-23, 23-25, 24-26, 15-13) at the Simplifi Arena at Stan Sherrif Center Friday.

The Anteaters (2-12, 2-7) used a balanced offensive attack led by senior All-American Joel Schneidmiller's 20 kills, hitting an impressive .500 (20-4-32).

As a team, UCI hit a season-high .417 (68-18-120). Hawaii hit .370 (65-21-119) and topped UCI in aces (5-4) and digs (33-28). The Anteaters out-blocked the nation's best blocking team 7.0 to 4.0. Hawaii remains undefeated at 14-0 overall and 9-0 in the Big West this season

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Opposite Alexandre Nsakanda had a season-high 13 kills and five digs
>Freshmen Cole Gillis and Francesco Sani each added 12 kills, hitting .478 and .429 respectively
>Middle blocker Scott Stadick put down eight kills and had two blocks
>Patrick Vorenkamp returned to the lineup and had a team-best four total blocks
>AJ Faille made his second consecutive start at libero and shared the team lead in digs with Nsakanda and Brian Garcia. Garcia matched his season-high with 28 set assists
>Hawaii's Rado Parapunov led all players with 25 kills followed by Colton Cowell with 17
>The Anteaters were hampered by 24 service errors, the second most this season

FIRST SET
>Hawaii jumped out to an early 5-1 lead
>UCI chipped away and a kill by Alexandre Nsakanda and an ace by Scott Stadick tied the set at 12-12
>Hawaii used a 3-0 run which included a kill, a solo block and an ace to take a 20-17 lead
>That was all the separation they would need as UH won the set 25-22
>The Anteaters were hurt by seven service errors
>Cole Gillis moved from libero to outside, paced UCI with six kills, hitting .750 (6-0-8)

SECOND SET
>The teams remained close with five lead changes until Hawaii went on a 6-1 run, which was started by four unanswered points to take the 20-16 lead
>Consecutive kills by Nsakanda and Gillis brought the Anteaters to 22-21, but Hawaii would take the next two points
>A kill by Gillis and an ace by Nsakanda forced a Hawaii timeout as the Anteaters crept within 24-23
>A Hawaii kill ended the set 25-23

THIRD SET
>Hawaii led 8-6 when UCI went on a 4-1 run to take a 9-8 lead. The Anteaters had two kills by Joel Schneidmiller and two by Francesco Sani in the spurt
>UCI outscored UH 4-1 on the strength on two Schneidmiller kills to put the Anteaters in front 20-18
>The lead was short-lived as Hawaii rallied with the next three points to claim a 21-20 advantage
> A pair of kills by Nsakanda kept the Anteaters in the set, 22-21
>A UH service error and an ace by Gillis gave UCI set point, 24-22
>Following a Warrior kill a Hawaii attack error helped UCI to a 25-23 win

FOURTH SET
>Six straight Anteater points on three Schneidmiller kills, two from Stadick and a UH attack error, moved the Anteaters out to a 11-5 lead
>After a lengthy delay on a challenge, Hawaii made a run with three consecutive points to close to 17-15
>Kills by Sani and Schneidmiller moved the advantage to 19-15
>Hawaii would tie the set at 20-20 forcing an Anteater timeout
>The teams would trade points until Schneidmiller touched one off the block to give UCI set point
>A block by Stadick and Dyan Zhai forced a fifth set 26-24

FIFTH SET
>Hawaii led 3-1 early, but the Anteaters used two Hawaii errors to knot the score at 3-3
>The teams would go point to point until a UCI service error was followed by a kill by Colten Cowell for the Hawaii 15-13 win

NOTES
>UCI is 1-3 in five set matches this season
>Hawaii extended its winning streak against UCI to seven
>The Anteaters out-blocked an opponent for the seventh time this season

UP NEXT
>The two teams will meet again tomorrow (Apr. 17) for a 10:00 p.m. PT first serve from Honolulu.