IRVINE, Calif. – Following another epic five set battle with the Cougars a night ago, No. 13 UC Irvine suffered a 3-0 loss (22-25, 18-25, 21-25) against No. 10 BYU at Smith Fieldhouse Saturday.

UCI hit a season-low .187 (32-18-75) to BYU's .395 (44-12-81). 

The Anteaters even their season record at 3-3, while BYU goes to 2-2.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Francesco Sani led the Anteaters with nine kills and four block assists
>Opposite Hilir Henno had seven kills and four digs
>Middle blocker Connor Campbell had a match-high six block assists and six kills
>Outside hitter Cole Gillis added six kills, while setter Dylan Zhai had 27 set assists and four digs and libero Cole Power had a team-best six digs
>BYU was led by Davide Gardini with 13 kills and two aces


FIRST SET
>UCI used three BYU mistakes to take a 10-8 lead
>A 5-1 run by the Cougars, which included three Anteater errors moved BYU in front 19-15
>The Cougars would go on to win 25-22. BYU out-hit UCI .407 to .091

SECOND SET
>BYU created some early separation on a UCI service error and a kill, 5-3
>Down 4-7, UCI had three kills by Cole Gillis to tie it at 8-8
>A 6-1 run which included two aces broke the set open for the Cougars, 18-13
>BYU scored the last three to win , 25-18

THIRD SET
>The teams remained close with only a UCI two point lead at 2-0 until UCI leading 20-19 before BYU closed out the set and match out-scoring the Anteaters 6-1 to win 25-21

NOTES
>UCI has out-blocked opponents four times, topping the Cougars 7.5-7.0
>Sani has led the team in kills four times this season

UP NEXT
>UCI renews its rivalry with USC next week, traveling to the Galen Center Wednesday (Jan. 26) and hosting the Trojans on Friday (Jan. 28).