IRVINE, Calif. – The 1,031 fans at the Bren Events Center got their money's worth as No. 14 UC Irvine came up just short in a 3-2 loss (25-21, 18-25, 27-25, 20-25, 11-15) to No. 4 Hawaii in the regular season finale Saturday.

The Anteaters (10-15, 3-7) had a season-high 16 blocks which is tied for third most in the Big West this season led by senior Aiden Wolf-Nielsen with a career-high 10 total blocks (1 solo, nine assisted).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Sophomore Francesco Sani led UCI with 24 kills and a career-best seven total blocks (2 solo, 5 assisted)
>Freshman Hilir Henno posted 15 kills, four aces and seven digs
>Middle blocker Doug Dahm hit .500 (6-1-10) and had four bock assists
>Setter Brian Garcia tallied 42 set assists, five digs and four block assists
>Libero Cole Power shared the team lead in digs with Henno at seven
>Hawaii's Dimitrios Mouchlias led all players with 31 kills, hitting .510 (31-6-49)
>Hawaii, the No. 2 seed for the championship, improves to 22-5 overall and 7-3 in the Big West

FIRST SET
>Hawaii would lead 13-10, before the Anteaters would go on a 7-1 run, including five straight on two kills by Francesco Sani, an ace by Doug Dahm, kills by Aiden Wolf- Nielsen and Hilir Henno and a block by Wolf-Nielsen and Brian Garcia
>A kill and two aces by Henno extended the lead to 23-16
>Hawaii wouldn't go away, fighting off three set points before Sani ended the set with a kill, 25-21

SECOND SET
>UCI took a 4-1 lead on a block by Wolf-Nielsen and Sani followed by kills from Sani and Cole Gillis
>A 10-1 run by the 'Bows broke the set open, 23-15
>Hawaii would win the set on a UCI service error, 25-18

THIRD SET
>A kill by Sani and two Hawaii attack errors propelled UCI to a 5-3 lead
>A block by Wolf-Nielsen and Sani plus another Sani kill moved the margin to 11-8
>Hawaii responded with the next four to take a 12-11 lead
>The teams would remain close until UCI had the final three points on a kill by Sani, a block by Dahm and Akhil Tangutur and a kill by Dahm, 27-25
>The Anteaters hit .500, with 16 kills and not a single error in 32 attempts

FOURTH SET
>Hawaii led 9-5 on the strength of a .714 hitting percentage (6-1-7)
>A kill and solo block by Sani drew UCI to 11-13
>Back-to-back blocks by Wolf-Nielsen and Garcia (16-19) and an ace by Henno (20-22) kept things close, but Hawaii would have two kills and an ace to force a fifth set, 25-20

FIFTH SET
>Hawaii led 4-1
>Behind the tough serving of Henno, a Rainbow Warrior attack error was followed by  a block by Wolf-Nielsen and Sani, 3-4
>A kill by Sani, a block by Henno and Dahm plus a Hawaii attack that sailed long tied the set at 8-8
>A kill and UCI attack error give Hawaii some room, 11-9
>Three more Anteater miscues helped Hawaii to match point, 14-9
>Following a service error and a solo block by Wolf-Nielsen, Hawaii took the match on a Chaz Galloway kill, 15-11
>Both teams struggled in the final set with Hawaii hitting .062 (6-5-16) and UCI hitting -.190 (4-8-21)

NOTES
>UCI is 2-6 in five set matches this season
>Sani has seven matches with 20 or more kills this season
>UCI honored graduating seniors Brian Garcia, Jonny Bowles, Alexandre Nsakanda and Aiden Wolf-Nielsen

UP NEXT
UCI will compete for a Big West Championship Apr. 21-23 in Honolulu. UCI will be the No. 5 seed and battle the No. 4 seed UC San Diego next Thursday at the SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center beginning at 7:30 p.m. PT