IRVINE, Calif. – No. 15 UC Irvine toppled No. 12 Stanford, 3-1 (25-23, 25-17, 23-25, 25-22) at the Bren Events Center Friday.

The Anteaters, who improve to 3-1 overall, hit .300 (51-18-110) and held the Cardinal to a .155 hitting percentage (40-23-110).

For the second consecutive match, freshman Hilir Henno led UCI in kills, putting away  a match-high 18. The opposite hit .457 (18-2-35) and recorded two aces, six blocks assists and five digs.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Francesco Sani totaled 14 kills and two aces
>Middle blocker Connor Campbell rejected a career-high eight block assists. He also had five kills
>Libero Cole Power had a career-high 13 digs
>Setter Dylan Zhai had a season-high 44 set assists to go with a career-high 11 digs
>Middle blocker Doug Dahm and outside hitter Cole Gillis each added six kills, a season-high for Dahm
>UCI had 10 blocks, 40 digs and six aces, while Stanford totaled nine blocks, 36 digs and four aces
>Will Rottman paced Stanford (3-1) with 10 kills, while Justin Lui had 14 digs

HEAD COACH DAVID KNIFFIN SAID
"Our four passers were able to control the ball with confidence tonight. That confidence came across in our freedom from the service line and the freedom to take some chances on defense and even our freedom to take some big swings in transition."

FIRST SET
>Consecutive kills by Francesco Sani and Hilir Henno got UCI off to a good start
>A pair of kills by Henno, a Cardinal attack error and a Cole Gillis ace forced a Cardinal timeout, 9-6
>A 3-1 run by Stanford moved them closer, 12-10, but a kill by Henno ended the momentum
>With UCI leading 21-17, Stanford rallied scoring six of the next eight points to tie the set at 23-23
>Sani would put away the final two kills to give UCI the 25-23 victory

SECOND SET
>Big Swings by Gillis and Sani gave UCI a 2-1 lead
>Henno would softly place a kill in the back corner then Gillis recorded an ace  to move the Anteaters ahead 12-9
>A 6-2 run by UCI which included a kill by Doug Dahm, a block, kill and ace by Henno extended the lead to 18-11
>Connor Campbell and Henno blocked the final point, 25-17
>The Anteaters did not commit a hitting error in the set, hitting .538 (14-0-26)

THIRD SET
>Kills by Sani and Gills plus a pair of Stanford attack errors gave UCI a 9-5 cushion
>The Cardinal would score four in a row and tie the set at 18-18 on an ace that trickled over the net
>Stanford would take their first lead on a UCI attack that flew wide then blocked a ball and had an ace to set up game point, 24-21
>Following a Henno kill and a block by Campbell and Dylan Zhai, a UCI service error handed the Cardinal the 25-23 win

FOURTH SET
>The Anteaters scored five unanswered with the help of kills by Sani, Gillis and Henno,  15-9
>Stanford would make a move on three UCI mistakes, 15-12
>UCI would continue to lead, only to watch the Cardinal outscore the Anteaters 5-1 to get as close as 19-18
>Stanford would catch the Anteaters at 21, before a Stanford service error and an ace by Sani gave UCI a 23-21 lead
>A Stanford kill was followed by a Cardinal service error and attack error, 25-22  

NOTES
>The Anteaters avenged a five-set loss to the Cardinal a week ago
>Henno continued to blister serves and leads the team with 11
>UCI has hit over .300 in all but one match this season
>UCI has fired five or more aces in each match this season

UP NEXT
The Anteaters will travel to Smith Fieldhouse and play BYU on Jan. 21 and 22.