IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine has been on the verge of an upset and broke through Friday tonight, toppling No. 5 Pepperdine 3-1 (13-25, 25-21, 25-21, 26-24) at the Bren Events Center.

The Anteaters (4-8) were led by freshman Hilir Henno's 15 kills, two aces, three digs and two solo blocks. Outside hitter Cole Gillis put away a season-high 12 kills, two aces and four digs.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Middle blocker Connor Campbell came on strong in the final two sets, recording seven of his nine kills. He also added two aces
>Outside hitter Akhil Tangutur came off the bench to record three kills and four digs in three sets
>Libero Cole Power had a team-high eight digs
>Pepperdine out-hit (.395-.311), out-blocked (8.0-4.5) and out-dug (36-27) the Anteaters. UCI did hold the slight advantage in aces 7-6. The Waves committed 15 service errors to UCI's 7
>Pepperdine's Jaylen Jasper had a match-high 23 kills, hitting .594. He also had a match-best nine digs. Jacob Steele (16) and Spencer Wickens (10) followed Jasper in kills. The Waves are 5-3 overall

FIRST SET
>Pepperdine broke open the set on an 10-2 run to lead, 18-10  
>The Waves would go on to a 25-13 victory
> Pepperdine took advantage of UCI's inability to put the ball away and hitting .515 (18-13-33)

SECOND SET
>UCI took an 8-5 advantage on four Pepperdine errors, the last a triple block by Hilir Henno, Doug Dahm and Cole Gillis
>A kill by Francesco Sani and an ace by Henno increased the lead to 13-8
>Pepperdine closed to 17-15, but UCI gained control with two Wave errors and an ace by Cole Gillis, 20-15
>The Waves fought off two set points before a kill by Gillis gave UCI the 25-20 victory
>The Anteaters turned it around offensively, hitting .455 (14-4-22)

THIRD SET
>A kill by Dylan Zhai, a solo block Henno and a Wave attack error tied the set at 13-13
>Pepperdine snuck ahead 18-16 until Connor Campbell put two down in the middle and Gillis followed with one from the outside then the Waves had an attack error forcing a Pepperdine timeout, 20-18
>Campbell would knock down another in the middle before a UCI service error ended the streak, 21-19
>A Pepperdine service error gave UCI the 25-21 win
>The two teams only had four attack errors between them. UCI hit .600 (16-1-25), while Pepperdine hit .444 (15-3-27)

FOURTH SET
>Pepperdine would hold an early 8-4 lead,
>A 5-1 spurt by the Waves extended their lead to 14-9
>A kill by Doug Dahm and an ace by Gillis pulled UCI within 17-19
>Pepperdine held set point 24-22, but UCI wasn't done using a kill by Gillis, a solo block and kill by Henno, 25-24
>Following a Pepperdine timeout, a Pepperdine attack sailed long giving UCI the 26-24 victory

HEAD COACH DAVID KNIFFIN
On the comeback in Set 4
"When talking about our resilience in the fourth set its hard not to talk about our resilience all season. We came in knowing where we needed to put in work and we are nowhere close to done, but this is a nice indicator that we are going in the right direction. I said celebrate and enjoy this then wake up tomorrow and get ready to go to work."

On Akhil Tangutur's Performance
"Akhil just does what Akhil does. He is always consistent passing, our best area six defender and someone we trust from the service line. He is a savvy volleyball player. Tonight, he stabilized us."

NOTES
>UCI's kill leader Francesco Sani left in the second set after a ball bounced off the net and hit his face resulting in a bloody nose. He totaled four kills before his departure
>Setter Dylan Zhai had 43 set assists and five digs in the win
>UCI snaps a seven-match losing streak
>The Anteaters' 49 kills are fifth most this season and the seven aces are tied for second most

UP NEXT
>UCI will entertain its last MPSF opponent in the regular season, hosting Concordia next Friday (Feb. 18) at 7:00 p.m in the Bren Events Center.