THIS WEEK 
UC Irvine vs No. 5 Pepperdine
Wednesday, Feb. 9 | 7:00 PM | Firestone Fieldhouse
Stats  Watch

UC Irvine vs. No. 5 Pepperdine
Friday, Feb. 11 | 7:00 PM | Bren Events Center
Stats  ESPN+

FIRST SERVE
UC Irvine will meet No.5 Pepperdine twice this week starting in Malibu on Wednesday (Feb. 9) at 7:00 p.m. from Firestone Fieldhouse. The teams meet again on Friday (Feb. 11) at the Bren Events Center. First serve is at 7:00 p.m.

STORYLINES
UCI and Pepperdine will be meeting for the first time since March 23, 2019 in Malibu. The Waves beat the Anteaters 3-0 in that match. UCI beat Pepperdine 3-1 in the first meeting that season at the Bren Center.

The Waves are 4-2 overall, coming off a 3-2 loss to UC Santa Barbara.

The Waves are 4-1 at home this season.

The Anteaters are in search of their first road victory (0-5).

UCI is 3-7 overall, dropping a pair of matches to UCLA last week. The Anteaters lost 3-1 the first meeting in the Bren in front of 1,258 fans.

The Anteaters lost 2-3 in Los Angeles, hitting a season-high .370 hitting percentage. The .370 hitting percentage is fifth best nationally in a five-set match.

SANI LEADS
Sophomore Francesco Sani led UCI in two tightly contested matches against then-No. 4 UCLA, averaging 3.56 kills, 3.94 points and 0.78 digs. He topped the Anteaters with 13 kills in the first meeting then hit .484 with 19 kills in the second match on the road. The outside hitter had two aces, three digs and two block assists at the Bren Center.

The outside hitter is fifth in the Big West in kills (3.75) and points (4.30). He ranks 13^th nationally in kills and 15^th in points.

Sani has led UCI in kills in seven matches this season, adding 10 or more kills on eight occasions.

His 24 kills against Stanford are tied for second most by a Big West player this season.

FANTASTIQUE
Freshman Hilir Henno averaged 2.67 kills, 1.00 digs, 0.89 blocks and 0.56 aces last week. He had 11 kills, two aces, seven digs and five block assists in the first meeting with the Bruins then totaled 13 kills, three service aces and three block assists in the second contest, hitting .455 (13-3-22).

On the season, he is sixth in the Big West in kills (3.38) and points (4.20). He is fourth in digs (1.80) and fifth in aces (0.48).

Henno has recorded kills in double figures seven times, including a career-high 22 at Stanford. His 19 digs versus Stanford are the most in the Big West this season.

CAMPBELL IN THE MIDDLE
Middle blocker Connor Campbell ranks 12^th in the country in blocking average with a 1.13 mark.

He has averaged 1.43 kills on the season. The sophomore has averaged 8.0 kills over the last three matches, while hitting .550 (24-2-40).

Campbell ranks seventh in the Big West in hitting percentage at .364.

GILLIS GETS IT DONE
Outside hitter Cole Gillis is averaging 1.88 kills and 1.05 digs. He is third on the team in aces with eight.

He had a season-high 11 kills in the first meeting with USC and a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs at BYU.

ON DEFENSE
Cole Power is averaging 1.78 digs per set, which is fifth among Big West players. He has started every match and logged double-digit digs twice, including 11 against the Bruins in Irvine.