IRVINE, Calif. – No. 14 UC Irvine lost in straight sets (21-25, 18-25, 22-25) to No. 4 Hawaii in the first of two matches between the teams this weekend at the Bren Events Center.

The teams will battle again tomorrow in the regular season finale at 7:00 p.m.in the Bren Events Center. UCI will honor its four seniors after the match.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Francesco Sani led all players with a match-best 16 kills and four aces, tying his career-high from beyond the service line
>Freshman Hilir Henno added nine kills and a match-high 10 digs
>Cole Gillis totaled six kills and five digs, while Cole Power had seven digs
>Middle blocker Doug Dahm had a team-best four block assists
>UH out-hit UCI .390-.200 and held a 9.5-7.0 advantage in blocks
>The Anteaters (10-14, 3-6) had more aces (6-5) and digs (25-22)
>Dimitrios Mouchilas led the Rainbow Warriors (21-5, 6-3) with 13 kills

FIRST SET
>It went back-and-forth in the early going with a Hilir Henno kill tying it up at 5-5
>Hawai'i then went on a 6-2 run to pull ahead, 11-7
>UC Irvine cut the deficit to two with a Doug Dahm ace making it 12-10, but UH scored the next three points
>After the media timeout, the Anteaters used back-to-back kills from Gillis, followed by a Francesco Sani kill to make it 15-13
>The Rainbow Warriors stayed out front and eventually took a 23-19 lead
>Henno responded with two-straight kills to close to within 23-21, but the 'Bows held on for the 25-21 win

SECOND SET
>Hawai'i took an early 5-2 lead before kills from Brian Garcia, Cole Gillis and Henno knotted it up
>The two teams would trade points until Hawai'i scored three unanswered for a 13-9 lead
>UCI came right back with a Dahm kill, Henno ace and a triple block to close within one
>A seesaw battle ensued before the Rainbow Warriors outscored UC Irvine, 9-3, for set point at 24-17
>The Anteaters were able to get one more kill from Henno before UH ended the set at 25-18

THIRD SET
>Hawai'i carried the momentum into the third frame, taking a 13-7 advantage
>The 'Eaters started to chip away as a kill from Gillis and a Aiden Wolf-Nielsen and Sani block made it 16-14
>UH would go back on top by as many as four, but Sani responded with a kill and a couple aces to make it 21-20
>Although UCI kept it close, the 'Bows never relinquished the lead, closing out the match with an ace, for the 25-22 victory

NOTES
>Sani has recorded an ace in eight straight matches
>UCI snaps a two-match winning streak