HONOLULU, Hawaii – No. 1 Hawaii swept UC Irvine 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-13) in the regular season finale at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

UCI ends the regular season with a 2-13 overall and 2-8 Big West record and will be the No. 6 seed for Big West Championship. The Anteaters will take on No. 3 Long Beach State in a quarterfinal match Thursday (Apr. 22) at 7:30 p.m. PT

After hitting a season-high the night before, the Anteaters hit .148 (31-19-81) Saturday. Undefeated Hawaii (15-0, 10-0) hit .385 (39-9-78).  The Rainbow Warriors are the tournament's No.1 seed and earn a bye into the semifinals on Friday.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitters Francesco Sani and Joel Schneidmiller led the Anteaters with nine kills each. Sani hit .467 (9-2-15) and had UCI's lone ace
>Opposite Alexandre Nsakanda added six kills
>For the second consecutive night, middle blocker Patrick Vorenkamp topped the squad with four block assists
>Redshirt freshman Cole Gillis had a team-best six digs
>Rado Parapunov led all players with 13 kills and had five of Hawaii's 10 aces
>Hawaii out-blocked UCI 8.5 to 5.0

FIRST SET
>Hawaii scored seven straight, including two aces from Patrick Gasman to open a 10-3 lead
>UH would out-score UCI, 8-2 to expand the lead to 22-9
>At set point, 24-11, UCI came alive scoring six straight to force a UH timeout. In the rally, the Anteaters had kills by Joel Schneidmiller and Francesco Sani and a pair of block assists by Patrick Vorenkamp
>A UCI attack error would give the Rainbow Warriors a 25-17 win
>Hawaii recorded 6.5 blocks in the first set, more than their total for the five-set match last night. UCI hit .057 (11-9-35).

SECOND SET
>After being tied 6-6, Hawaii out-scored UCI 5-2. to take a 10-7 lead
>Kills by Sani, Brian Garcia and Schneidmiller got the Anteaters to 11-10
>A kill by Alexandre Nsakanda kept the Anteaters close, 19-17, but Hawaii would close out the set on a 6-1 run to win 25-18

THIRD SET
>Hawaii started with the first three points and scored seven straight, including five aces by Rado Parapunov to open an 12-3 advantage
>The Rainbow Warriors continued to roll, leading 23-9 before UCI had a small spark with a kill by Nsakanda, an ace by Sani and a kill by Schneidmiller, 23-12
>Colton Cowell would have Hawaii's final two kills to win 25-13

NOTES
>UCI and CSUN ended the regular season tied in the standings, but the Matadors won the tiebreaker on points (178-171) and are the fifth seed
>Schneidmiller has led the Anteaters in kills in all but two matches this season
>Hawaii native Davis Lau saw action in three sets, recording a dig
>Brian Garcia had a team-best 16 set assists

UP NEXT
The Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Big West Men's Volleyball Championship presented by the Hawaiian Islands will be held April 22-24 at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.