PALO ALTO, Calif. – UC Irvine opened the season with a 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 25-18) victory over Lindenwood behind Francesco Sani's career-high 14 kills at the Burnham Pavilion & Ford Center.

The Anteaters played a non-conference opponent for the first time since Mar. 7, 2020 when the Anteaters beat Grand Canyon, 3-1, the last match of the shortened 2020 season. UCI only competed against Big West schools in 2021.

Sani put away his career-best performance in kills, while hitting .296 and adding a dig and block in the win.

HEAD COACH DAVID KNIFFIN SAID
"It was great to compete again, in front of family. We had some jitters tonight. I felt like we improved as the match went on. I'll be curious to see where we are inspired to improve."

"I really enjoyed seeing Diego Negron and Hilir Henno challenge each other and acknowledge each other's great plays. They brought energy to the game that only comes with outside competition."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Cole Gillis hit .346 on 10 kills, one error and 26 attempts. He had three digs
>Freshman Hilir Henno led UCI with four aces and seven digs. He totaled nine kills in his Anteater debut
>In the middle, Connor Campbell recorded six kills and two blocks, while Doug Dahm hit .750 (3-0-4) and had two blocks
>Setter Patrick Vorenkamp and libero Cole Power each had five digs with Vorenkamp ending with 36 set assists
>Lindenwood (0-3) was led by AJ Lewis with 12 kills
>The Anteaters out-hit the Lions .314 to .195
>UCI serving was key, holding a 6-2 advantage

FIRST SET
>UCI led 9-6, but Lindenwood would knot the score at 9-9 on an ace
>The Lions would lead 20-17 forcing a UCI timeout
>Out of the break the Anteaters had three straight points, including a kill by Francesco Sani, 20 all
>Lindenwood answered with the next two only to watch UCI score two more, the last a Cole Gillis kill
>A kill by Sani was followed by a Lion error for set point, 25-24
>After a UCI service error, another Gillis kill and a Lion error gave the Anteaters the win, 27-25

SECOND SET
>A blast from Doug Dahm in the middle was followed by two aces by Connor Campbell and a Lion attack error to move UCI in front 8-4
>Henno exploded for pair of aces to increase the advantage to 15-9
>Lindenwood scored four in a row to close within 20-16 until a Hilir Henno kill ended the momentum
>Another kill by Henno would end the set 25-20

THIRD SET
>More tough serving by Henno helped UCI sneak out to a 5-1 lead
>Consecutive kills by Henno, Sani and Campbell gave UCI a 13-9 advantage
>A kill by Sani was followed by Henno winning a joust for a kill, 21-15
>The Anteaters would win the set 25-18 and complete the sweep
>UCI ended strong, hitting .483 (17-3-29) in the final set

NOTES
>Over the last seven years, UCI has won the season-opener all but one time
>Henno's four aces were the most by an Anteater since Joel Schneidmiller had four against UC Santa Barbara on Mar. 3, 2021
>Lindenwood out-blocked UCI 8-4

UP NEXT
In a quick turnaround, UCI will face Stanford tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. in Burnham Pavilion & Ford Center