LA JOLLA, Calif. – No. 13 UC Irvine pushed No. 10 UC San Diego to extra points in two sets, but came up short in a 3-1 loss (21-25, 24-26, 25-22, 28-30) at RIMAC Arena Friday night.

UCI couldn't hold off the Tritons late in the second and fourth sets, going to 8-10 overall and 1-2 in the Big West. UCSD goes to 10-7 on the year and 2-2 in league play.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Freshman Hilir Henno started slow but ended with a team-high 16 kills and seven digs
>Outside hitters Cole Gillis and Francesco Sani each added 13 kills with Gillis logging three aces and Sani two
>Cole Power had a match-best nine digs
>Middle blocker Aiden Wolf-Nielsen had a season-high five kills and two total blocks, while middle blocker Doug Dahm had a match-best five total blocks (2 solo, 3 assisted)
>UCSD hit .387 and was led by Kyle McCauley's 26 kills. He added two aces and six digs in the win
>UCI held a 7-6.5 advantage in blocks and a 6-3 advantage in aces. The Anteaters hit .292

FIRST SET
>UCSD used a UCI service error and a service ace to create some separation late, 18-16
>Back-to-back errors from the service line and outside moved the Triton lead to 22-19
>A block for UCSD ended the set, 25-21
>UCI gave away eight points on service errors

SECOND SET
>The Tritons went on a 6-2 run to lead 9-6
>Two mental mistakes by the Anteaters stretched UC San Diego's advantage to 11-9
>UC San Diego would build a 19-13 advantage, but UCI continued to battle and scored five in a row behind the serving of Henno to move in front 23-22
>Teams would trade points until a pair of Kyle McCauley kills gave UCSD the set 26-24

THIRD SET
>UCI started with a quick 3-1 lead which included an ace by Francesco Sani
>A kill by Hilir Henno and a solo block by Aiden Wolf-Nielsen gave UCI a 14-10 lead
>Doug Dahm would set Sani for a kill to extend the lead to 19-16
>Two errors by the Tritons made it 21-17
>Wolf-Nielsen put down the set winner, 25-22

FOURTH SET
>With score tied at 5-5, UCI scored the next four on kills by Henno (1) and Sani (2) and an ace by Gillis
>Dylan Zhai would get up high and put the ball down, 9-6
>UCSD would knot the score at 9 all before UCI had a kill by Sani and two Triton attack errors to regain control 12-9
>UCSD wouldn't go away tying the set at 16-16
>Consecutive UCI errors moved UCSD in front 18-17
>At 18-18, UCSD peeled off three in a row, 21-18
>UCI answered with a block by Dahm and Zhai, a kill by Henno and a solo by Dahm, 21-21
>The Anteaters fought off four set points and would hold a 28-27 lead only to watch UCSD score the final three points, 30-28

NOTES
>Aiden Wolf-Nielsen made his first start of the season
>Setter Dylan Zhai totaled 44 set assists
>Gillis has seven double-digit kill performances this season

UP NEXT
>The teams will meet again tomorrow (Mar. 26) at the Bren Events Center.  First serve at 7 p.m.