UCI Closes Out Regular Season Hosting Hawaii
April 12, 2022 | Men's Volleyball
THIS WEEK
No. 4 Hawaii at No. 14 UC Irvine
Friday, Apr. 15 | 7:00 PM | Bren Events Center
Live Stats
Watch: ESPN+
No. 4 Hawaii at No. 14 UC Irvine
Saturday, Apr. 16 | 7:00 PM | Bren Events Center
Live Stats
Watch: ESPN+
FIRST SERVE
No. 14 UC Irvine will entertain No. 4 Hawaii Friday and Saturday (Apr. 15-16) at the Bren Events Center. First serve for both matches will be at 7:00 p.m.
UCI will celebrate seniors Jonny Bowles, Alexandre Nsakanda, Aiden Wolf-Nielsen and Brian Garcia following Saturday's match.
STORYLINES
The Anteaters and Rainbow Warriors met four times last year with Hawaii winning all four.
From 2011-15, UCI won 10 of 11 with Hawaii. Since then, UH has won 13 of the last 14, including the last nine.
Hawaii captured the 2021 National Championship with a 3-0 sweep of BYU.
Hawaii enters the week 20-5 overall and 5-3 in conference play.
UHs losses have come at the hands of Ball State, UC San Diego and Long Beach State.
The Rainbow Warriors are riding a two-match winning streak after beating UC Santa Barbara twice last week.
Like UCI, Hawaii does not like playing on the road, going 1-5.
The Anteaters are 10-13 overall and 3-5 in Big West matches.
UCI is also on a two-match winning streak with a series sweep of CSUN last week.
SANI GRABS BIG WEST HONOR
Sophomore Francesco Sani was named Big West Offensive Player of the Week after leading the Anteaters to a pair of wins over CSUN last week.
For the week, he averaged 5.00 kills, 5.93 points, 0.57 aces and 1.00 digs per set.
Playing at opposite, he recorded 21 kills in the first meeting with the Matadors, his sixth 20+ kill performance of the season. The sophomore also recorded two aces, three digs and two blocks. On Saturday in the first match on Court 21, Sani paced the Anteaters with 14 kills at a .435 rate (14-4-23) with two more aces, four digs and two block assists for a match-high 17 points in the sweep.
Sani claimed his first Big West weekly award, after a pair of Freshman of the Week distinctions a year ago.
Sani ranks third in the Big West in kills (4.00) and points (4.61) per set.
VERSUS THE MATADORS
The Anteaters took the first match in Northridge, 3-1 behind the strength of a 10-3.5 advantage in blocks and a 7-2 advantage in aces.
Middle blockers Aiden Wolf-Nielsen and Doug Dahm hit a combined .467 with just three errors between them in 30 attempts. Wolf-Nielsen tied his career-high with nine kills and had a match-high five total blocks. Dahm matched his season-high in kills with eight.
The next night, the Anteaters hit a season-high .395 (41-11-76) in the debut of Court 21.
The Anteater block once again was dominant, holding a 11-2 advantage. Wolf-Nielsen topped the squad with seven total blocks (1 solo, six assisted)
GARCIA RUNS THE SHOW
Senior Brian Garcia has started the last three matches. Over the last three matches, he is averaging 11.10 set assists, 1.50 digs and 1.00 blocks per set.
He has also hit .600 (6-0-10) and fired three aces.
On the season, he averages 8.56 set assists and 1.07 digs.
LOOKING AHEAD
This week's matches round out the regular season. The Anteaters will travel to Hawaii next week to compete in the 2022 OUTRIGGER Big West Men's Volleyball Championship, presented by the Hawaiian Islands at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center Apr. 21-23.
No. 4 Hawaii at No. 14 UC Irvine
Friday, Apr. 15 | 7:00 PM | Bren Events Center
Live Stats
Watch: ESPN+
No. 4 Hawaii at No. 14 UC Irvine
Saturday, Apr. 16 | 7:00 PM | Bren Events Center
Live Stats
Watch: ESPN+
FIRST SERVE
No. 14 UC Irvine will entertain No. 4 Hawaii Friday and Saturday (Apr. 15-16) at the Bren Events Center. First serve for both matches will be at 7:00 p.m.
UCI will celebrate seniors Jonny Bowles, Alexandre Nsakanda, Aiden Wolf-Nielsen and Brian Garcia following Saturday's match.
STORYLINES
The Anteaters and Rainbow Warriors met four times last year with Hawaii winning all four.
From 2011-15, UCI won 10 of 11 with Hawaii. Since then, UH has won 13 of the last 14, including the last nine.
Hawaii captured the 2021 National Championship with a 3-0 sweep of BYU.
Hawaii enters the week 20-5 overall and 5-3 in conference play.
UHs losses have come at the hands of Ball State, UC San Diego and Long Beach State.
The Rainbow Warriors are riding a two-match winning streak after beating UC Santa Barbara twice last week.
Like UCI, Hawaii does not like playing on the road, going 1-5.
The Anteaters are 10-13 overall and 3-5 in Big West matches.
UCI is also on a two-match winning streak with a series sweep of CSUN last week.
SANI GRABS BIG WEST HONOR
Sophomore Francesco Sani was named Big West Offensive Player of the Week after leading the Anteaters to a pair of wins over CSUN last week.
For the week, he averaged 5.00 kills, 5.93 points, 0.57 aces and 1.00 digs per set.
Playing at opposite, he recorded 21 kills in the first meeting with the Matadors, his sixth 20+ kill performance of the season. The sophomore also recorded two aces, three digs and two blocks. On Saturday in the first match on Court 21, Sani paced the Anteaters with 14 kills at a .435 rate (14-4-23) with two more aces, four digs and two block assists for a match-high 17 points in the sweep.
Sani claimed his first Big West weekly award, after a pair of Freshman of the Week distinctions a year ago.
Sani ranks third in the Big West in kills (4.00) and points (4.61) per set.
VERSUS THE MATADORS
The Anteaters took the first match in Northridge, 3-1 behind the strength of a 10-3.5 advantage in blocks and a 7-2 advantage in aces.
Middle blockers Aiden Wolf-Nielsen and Doug Dahm hit a combined .467 with just three errors between them in 30 attempts. Wolf-Nielsen tied his career-high with nine kills and had a match-high five total blocks. Dahm matched his season-high in kills with eight.
The next night, the Anteaters hit a season-high .395 (41-11-76) in the debut of Court 21.
The Anteater block once again was dominant, holding a 11-2 advantage. Wolf-Nielsen topped the squad with seven total blocks (1 solo, six assisted)
GARCIA RUNS THE SHOW
Senior Brian Garcia has started the last three matches. Over the last three matches, he is averaging 11.10 set assists, 1.50 digs and 1.00 blocks per set.
He has also hit .600 (6-0-10) and fired three aces.
On the season, he averages 8.56 set assists and 1.07 digs.
LOOKING AHEAD
This week's matches round out the regular season. The Anteaters will travel to Hawaii next week to compete in the 2022 OUTRIGGER Big West Men's Volleyball Championship, presented by the Hawaiian Islands at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center Apr. 21-23.
Players Mentioned
OPP/OH
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
S
/ Men's Volleyball
OPP/OH
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
MB
/ Men's VolleyballTuesday, May 12
Sunday, May 10
Sunday, May 10
Saturday, May 09
