IRVINE, Calif. – Middle blocker Connor Campbell had a dominate night at the net to lead UC Irvine to a 3-0 victory (25-22, 25-22, 27-25) over Concordia at the Bren Events Center Friday.

Campbell had a career-high nine total blocks (1 solo 8 assisted) to go with a .643 hitting performance. He recorded nine kills and did not commit an error in 14 attempts.  His nine blocks are tied for second most in the Big West this season.

UCI had a season-high 45 digs led by libero Cole Power's career-best 14.

The Anteaters (5-8) handed Concordia its first loss (5-1) and win their second consecutive match.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Francesco Sani led the Anteaters in kills with 15. He added two aces, five digs and three block assists
>Hilir Henno had his third double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs
>Setter Dylan Zhai also posted a double-double, his second of the season, with 38 set assists and 11 digs
>Outside hitter Cole Gillis pitched in eight kills, while middle blocker Doug Dahm had two kills and two total blocks
>Concordia's Uriel Batista recorded a match-high 17 kills

FIRST SET
>Concordia used a four-point run to move in front 15-11
>UCI answered with a 5-1 run which included a kill, ace, and block assist by Francesco Sani to knot the score at 16-16
>UCI would trail by two on a few occasions, including 19-21 when Cole Gillis had a kill followed by a block by Sani and Doug Dahm and a kill by Hilir Henno to jump ahead, 22-21
>An ace by Akhil Tangutur and a kill in the middle by Connor Campbell ended the set, 25-22

SECOND SET
>A block by Campbell and Henno gave UCI the 14-12 advantage
>Three straight Anteater attack errors tied the set, 19-19
>A kill and solo block by Campbell forced the Eagles to use a timeout, 22-20
>Another kill and block by Campbell gave UCI set point 24-21
>An Eagle service went long to hand UCI the 25-22 victory

THIRD SET
>The Eagles took control early, 6-2
>A kill by Campbell, plus two by Sani and a block by Campbell and Dylan Zhai got UCI back in the match, 9-9
>UCI trailed once again late in the set (18-20) before a solo block by Dahm and a kill by Gillis tied the score at 20 all
>Fittingly, Campbell had a kill followed a Sani ace for the 27-25 win

NOTES
>UCI 11.5 blocks is the third most this season
>UCI's 48 kills are the most in a three-set match in 2022
>It is the first time this season, UCI has had three players with double-digit digs
>Power has totaled digs in double-figures three times this year

UP NEXT
>UCI will take a short hiatus until March 5 when they travel to Concordia for a 7:00 p.m. match