THIS WEEK 
No. 14 UC Irvine vs No. 10 USC
Wednesday, Jan. 26 | 7:00 PM | Galen Center
Stats
Watch: PAC-12 Network
 
No. 10 USC vs No. 14 UC Irvine
Friday, Jan. 28 | 7:00 PM | Bren Events Center
Stats
Watch: ESPN+

FIRST SERVE
No. 14 UC Irvine will travel to No. 10 USC Wednesday (Jan. 26) for a 7:00 p.m. first serve at the Galen Center.
 
The two teams will meet again on Friday (Jan. 28) at the Bren Events Center starting at 7:00 p.m.
 
STORYLINES
USC is 5-1 overall, upsetting then-No. 3 Penn State before suffering the lone loss of the year against then-No. 11 Ohio State, 1-3 last week. Both matches were played at Pauley Pavilion.
 
Simon Gallas had a career-high 30 kills against the Nittany Lions, the fourth most kills in a match by a Trojan in the rally scoring era.
 
The Trojans are off to their best start since the 2015 squad won its first 7 matches.
 
The Anteaters and Trojans renew their rivalry in 2022 after playing within their respective conferences in 2021.
 
In the last meeting in 2020, the Anteaters beat USC, 3-1. UCI opposite Alexandre Nskanda led UCI to the victory with a team-best 14 kills, four aces and five digs. He also hit .522 and added three blocks.
 
UCI trails USC in the series record, 34-40, all-time, but the Anteaters have won the last two meetings. 
 
The Anteaters are 3-3 overall in 2022.
 
UCI is looking for its first road win of the season (0-3).
 
UCI dropped a pair of matches last week, falling to then-No. 10 BYU. The Anteaters went the distance the first night then lost in three in the next.
 
Francesco Sani led UCI on the first night with 23 kills, one shy of his career-high. Freshman Hilir Henno followed with 17 kills and a match-high 15 digs. Outside hitter Cole Gillis tied his season-high in kills with 10 and recorded a season-high in digs with 10. Middle blocker Connor Campbell matched his career-best total blocks with one solo and seven assists.
 
The Anteaters out-hit BYU .331 to .216 and held a 42-32 dig advantage, but the Cougars led UCI in blocking 16-12 and at the service line, 9-2.
 
On the second night, Sani had a team-best nine kills. UCI hit a season-low .187 (32-18-75).

NATIONALLY SPEAKING
UCI ranks third in the country in set assists (12.04) and eighth in kills (12.39). The Anteaters are ninth in the nation in blocking with a 2.39 average.
 
Connor Campbell ranks fourth nationally in blocking (1.48).

Francesco Sani is eighth in kills (4.13), 11th in points (4.61) and 12th in attack attempts (8.22). Hilir Henno matches Sani in points, coming in at 11th in the country and is 13^th in kills (3.74) and 13th in digs with a 2.43 average.

SANI LEADS
Outside hitter Francesco Sani leads the Anteaters with a 4.13 kills and 4.61 points average, second in the Big West in both categories.

He owns the top two marks for kills in the Big West, posting a career-high 24 kills against Stanford and 23 last week versus BYU.

Sani has recorded double-digit kills in all but one match, leading the Anteaters on four occasions.

He is third on the team with five aces.

FAB FRESHMAN
Freshman Hilir Henno ranks second in the Big West in digs (2.43) and points (4.61), third in kills (3.74) and fourth in aces (0.48).

The opposite totaled a conference-best 19 digs versus Stanford and his 22 kills in that same match are third most among Big West players.
 
He has been Big West Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week as well as Freshman of the Week twice this season.
 
CAMPBELL DOMINATES THE NET
Sophomore Connor Campbell leads the Big West and is fourth nationally with a 1.48 blocking average.
 
The middle blocker owns three of the top four marks in the Big West in blocks, recording a career-best eight total blocks against Stanford and BYU.
 
He had a career-high eight kills last week in the first meeting with the Cougars and is averaging 1.35 kills overall.
 
COUNT ON COLE (S)
Outside hitter Cole Gillis averages 1.87 kills and 0.87digs. The redshirt sophomore is second on the team in aces, firing six. He had a season-high 10 kills and 10 digs last Friday in Provo.
 
Libero Cole Power is averaging 1.87 digs per set, which is seventh among Big West players. He collected 13 digs in the rematch with Stanford, the fourth most in the Big West.