IRVINE, Calif. – Both teams held leads in the match between No. 7 UC Irvine and No. 10 USC with the 'Eaters coming out on top, 3-2 (25-22, 25-27, 23-25, 25-20, 15-11) Wednesday night at the Bren Events Center.
Francesco Sani fueled the win with 23 kills for a season-high and second-highest total in the Big West while adding two aces and a career-best 11 digs.
As a team, the 'Eaters (4-0) hit .301 with
Hilir Henno tallying 17 kills.
Cole Gillis (12) and
Connor Campbell (6) added 18 kills together with just two errors between them in 40 attempts.
HEAD COACH DAVID KNIFFIN SAID:
 "That USC team is good. Scrappy volleyball players with championship experience at youth levels that shines through.
We got better tonight. Clearly some special individual performances —
Cole Gillis' consistency, the dynamic double sub duo with Will
D'Arcy and Dylan
Zhai, and then
Hilir Henno just turning it on big time down the stretch.
But the story is that we just kept improving. We are finding a consistent rhythm. And we aren't there yet."
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Both sides held the advantage during the match with UCI winning the first set before USC (4-2) roared back for two straight set wins to lead, 2-1
>The Anteater comeback saw them win the fourth and fifth sets with a combined hitting percentage of .442 (24-5-43) including the best set of the night from either side in the fourth posting a .480 percentage
>UCI's front line posted 15 blocks led by
Doug Dahm who contributed to six of them with two solo blocks and four assists
>Three Anteaters had double-digit digs with
Joe Karlous' 13 followed by 12 from
Cole Power and Sani's 11
>The teams were fairly even on the night in many stats including finishing level with 62 assists and five service aces each. UCI had one more kill and five more digs while USC had one more block on the night
>The Trojans hit .275Â (63-21-153) led in the stats by Dillon Klein's 19 kills, Simon Gallas' 12 digs, and five aces from five different Trojans
FIRST SET
>USC claimed the opening point on a Dillon Klein kill
>The match stayed close until three-point run by the Trojans to go from down 4-3 to up 6-4 helped by a Nate Tennant ace
>USC went on an 8-4 run to hold its largest lead of 14-10 thanks to three kills and an ace by Klein
>The 'Eaters began their first-set comeback with subs leading to four of the next five points to draw even at 15-15
>
Hilir Henno rose up for three kills of the next four Anteater points for a 19-17 lead
>UCI put some distance between the Trojans led by two
Francesco Sani kills to set up match point, 24-19
>USC made a late rally before an attack error ended the set 25-22 to UCI
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SECOND SET
>Simon Gallas opened the second set with a service ace and error for a 1-1 game
>A
Hilir Henno kill gave UCI the lead 3-1 and they would hang on to that slim lead until a three-point USC run to lead, 9-8, and a UCI timeout
>UCI caught USC at 12-12 with the teams trading points up to 18-18
>A brief two-point UCI lead dissipated as the match remained level to 23-23.
Francesco Sani's kill gave UCI set point at 24-23.
>The Trojans knotted things back up, and UCI had another set point chance at 25-24 before USC finished things off with the final three points to win, 27-25
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THIRD SET
>The third set saw the lead flip-flop between the teams until USC went on a three-point run to lead, 6-4
>The 'Eaters went on a three-point run of their own to take the lead back at 11-10 thanks to a pair of USC attacking errors
>UCI grew their lead to 17-14 with Sani,
Doug Dahm, and
William D'Arcy supplying kills
>USC took a timeout and successfully swung momentum with four straight points to lead 18-17
>The teams met at 19-19 before three straight points by the Trojans for a 22-19 lead
>USC rode the set out despite UCI closing to 24-23 on consecutive kills, but a Nate Tennant kill gave USC its first lead of the match at two sets to one.
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FOURTH SET
>The fourth set started hot for the Anteaters going up 3-0
>UCI kept its multiple-point lead and pushed it to as big as 9-4 helped by three
Connor Campbell kills
>UCI led by as much as 20-14 after going on a 6-2 run
>USC shrunk the deficit to 21-19 before five kills brought on the final five points of the set
>
Cole Gillis,
Hilir Henno, and
Francesco Sani even the match with three consecutive kills to end the set and win, 25-20Â
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FIFTH SET
>USC jumped out to a 2-0 lead and held onto the lead through to 6-4
>The Anteaters flipped things with four consecutive points punctuated by a
Connor Campbell's kill on an overpass to lead 8-6
>UCI never looked back keeping multiple points between them and the Trojans
>The 'Eaters put away the second match point on a
Francesco Sani kill off the block to win the set, 15-11, and the match, 3-2
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NOTES
>UCI stays unbeaten in 2023 now 4-0
>The 'Eaters went to a fifth set for a first time having won 12 of 15 sets on the year
>UCI has won five straight matches in the Bren dating back to 2022
>It's the fourth time UCI has opened 4-0 under head coach
David Kniffin and first since going 5-0 in 2019
UP NEXT
UCI is back in the Bren Friday for a 7:00 p.m. match against Concordia
