PALO ALTO, Calif. – A pair of UC Irvine pin-hitters had career nights, totaling 46 kills but it wasn't enough as the Anteaters dropped a five set match (23-25, 21-25, 25-27, 22-25, 18-20) to Stanford at the Burnham Pavilion & Ford Center Saturday.

Sophomore outside hitter Francesco Sani put away a career-best 24 kills, while freshman opposite Hilir Henno followed with 22 kills and a team and career-best 19 digs. Henno also added five block assists and two aces.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Middle blocker Connor Campbell had a career-high seven block assists
>Outside hitter Cole Gillis recorded a career-high four total blocks and tied his career-high with three aces. He also had eight kills
>Setter Patrick Vorenkamp totaled 52 set assists, nine digs and four block assists
>Middle blocker Doug Dahm recorded five kills and a career-best six total blocks (1 solo, 5 assists)
>UCI out-blocked Stanford, 15.5-10.5
>Will Rottman had a team-high 16 kills for the Cardinal. Luke Turner (12) and Nathaniel Gates (11) followed with double-figure kills

FIRST SET
>A Francesco Sani ace got UCI out to a quick 3-1 lead
>Two kills and an ace by Hilir Henno helped the Anteaters to a 13-8 lead
>UCI would hold an 18-12 advantage before Stanford rallied on a 6-1 run to narrow the Anteaters lead to 19-18
>The Cardinal would catch UCI at 22-22 and go on to win the set 25-23

SECOND SET
>A 5-1 spurt by Stanford created some separation, 15-11
>Kills by Doug Dahm and Sani closed the gap to 16-15
>Stanford would score the next two and go on to a 25-21 victory
>The Cardinal would hit .429 in the set

THIRD SET
>A kill by Francesco Sani and three straight Stanford attack errors gave UCI a 9-5 advantage
>Another string of three Stanford errors pushed the Anteater lead to 14-9
>Stanford roared back with six straight points, three on UCI attack errors, to tie it at 22-22
>Tied at 25-25, UCI used back-to-back kills by Sani and Henno to win 27-25
>The Anteaters had 6.5 blocks in the set

FOURTH SET
>The team were close until a kill by Sani was followed by a Stanford error and two Cole Gillis service aces, 14-11
>Two kills by Henno and a Cardinal attack error moved the Anteater lead to 19-13
>Once again Stanford rallied scoring five in a row, three on UCI attack errors, to close to 19-18
>Kills by Connor Campbell and Henno gave UCI some breathing room, 21-18
>A block by Henno and Doug Dahm gave UCI set point, 24-21. Following a Stanford kill, a Cardinal service error handed the Anteaters a 25-22 victory, forcing a fifth set

FIFTH SET
>A kill by Sani and a triple block by Cambpell, Sani and Patrick Vorenkamp put UCI up 5-3
>Stanford quickly answered with the next three points
>Two Stanford blocks and an Anteater error helped the Cardinal to a 10-8 advantage
>A kill by Sani and a Stanford error helped UCI regain the lead, 13-12
>Stanford would score the next two points and hold match point, but a Sani kill evened it at 14
>The teams would trade points until a UCI service error was followed by a kill by Luke Turner for the 20-18 Stanford win.

COACH KNIFFIN SAID
"We improved tonight. From the bench to the starters. Everyone learned. I enjoyed that. This is important.

For January, I thought this was good volleyball. Stanford has good volleyball players on their side.

20-18 in the fifth set comes down to a play or two. We'll make those plays down the stretch. This is a new system, with some new personnel. We'll get better. And the potential is high.

If I'm dissatisfied with anything tonight, it's the first set. We let that one go. I need to figure out how to help these guys not let that happen again. That (set 1) loss was unnecessary."

NOTES
>Henno now leads the team with six aces in two matches

UP NEXT
UCI makes its Bren Center debut on Wednesday (Jan. 12) when they entertain Harvard at 7:00 p.m.