IRVINE, Calif. – Francesco Sani's season-high kills wasn't enough as No. 6 UC Irvine couldn't hold off No. 12 BYU in five sets (24-26, 25-21, 22-25, 25-19, 9-15) in front of 1,743 fans at the Bren Events Center Friday night.

Sani posted 26 kills, two shy of his career-high, to lead all players. It is the 10^th time in his career he has recorded 20 or more kills. Sano also had a season-high six total blocks, on two solo and four assisted.

The Anteaters hit a season-low .204 on their way to the first loss of the season, 7-1. In a reversal of Wednesday night's match, it was the BYU (5-1) block that reigned supreme, rejecting 22 blocks, the most in the country this season.

HEAD COACH DAVID KNIFFIN SAID:
"When knew we needed to play a little cleaner than BYU to win that and we did not. That's the first time we have seen a block that size and we will learn from that."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Opposite Hilir Henno had a season-high five aces to go with 14 kills and a team and season-best 12 digs
>Cole Gillis added eight kills and three block assists
>Setter Joe Karlous totaled 35 set assists and nine digs
>UCI had 10 aces, one shy of the season-high
>BYU's Miks Ramanis had 20 kills, while Teon Taylor had 13 block assists, the most in the country this year

FIRST SET
>BYU started with a 4-1 lead that included two blocks and a UCI service error
>The Cougars ripped off three consecutive kills to extend the margin to 9-4 and force a UCI timeout
>A kill by Hilir Henno and a block by Cole Gillis and Doug Dahm narrowed the margin to 7-10
>Back-to-back aces by Henno ignited an Anteater 9-2 run which was capped by a Francesco Sani solo block and included two Gillis kills, 16-13
>Two kills by Sani, a block by William D'Arcy and Maxim Grigoriev pushed the lead to 19-15
>Two UCI errors kept BYU close, 20-18
>An ace by Henno made it set point, 24-21 only to watch the Cougars rally on a kill, a block and a UCI setting error, 24-24
>Following a UCI timeout, Miks Ramanis trickled a serve over the net for an ace and a  Trent Moser had a kill for the set-winner, 26-24
>Both teams were active at the net with the Cougars recording five blocks and the Anteaters 4.5

SECOND SET
>A Gillis kill and two Cougar attack errors gave UCI an early 3-0 lead
>A kill by Sani made it 6-2
>After BYU would close within 7-6, a service error and kill by Henno gave UCI some breathing room, 9-7
>The Cougars would go on a 5-1 run which included a kill, ace and three UCI attack errors, the last a block, 15-13
>UCI would get two back on BYU errors, 18-14
>A Connor Dahm ace helped UCI to a 21-15 advantage
>A Gillis kill would end the set, 25-21
>Both teams struggled offensively with UCI hitting .138 and BYU .000

THIRD SET
>BYU started with a 7-1 lead as UCI hit -.429 (1-4-7)
>A 3-1 spurt that included an ace by Gillis and kill by Sani kept the Anteaters in the set, 9-5
>Three in a row by the Anteaters, a kill by Sani, a block by Sani and Doug Dahm and a Henno ace forced a BYU timeout, 10-12
>A pair of kills by Sani pulled UCI to 15-16
>Henno turned on a ball down the line then rocked an ace to tie the set at 19-19
>The Cougars would follow with three kills and an Anteater attack error to regain control, 23-19
>BYU would win the set on a UCI service error, 25-22

FOURTH SET
>BYU kept the momentum going into the fourth set, scoring the first four points until Henno put a ball away from the right side
>A 4-1 run that included two D'Arcy kills, a block by Sani and D. Dahm plus another Sani kill tied the set at 11-11
>BYU would use a kill and a block to go ahead 13-11
>A BYU attack error and two receiving mistakes moved the Anteaters into the lead 15-14
>A Cougar service error, block by D. Dahm and Henno and Cougar into the net on the offensive end helped the Anteaters, 19-16
>In a long rally, Henno laid out for a ball and Sani dug a ball with his foot before a BYU attack sailed wide, 21-17
>Sani would put away three straight kills to get to set point 24-18
>After a UCI service error, a BYU error gave UCI the set 25-19

FIFTH SET
>BYU would take the first two points until Henno had a kill for the Anteaters, 2-1
>The Cougars would rattle off four in a row, three UCI attack errors, two on blocks, 7-2
>Consecutive kills by Connor Campbell and Sani drew UCI close, 6-9, but BYU would score on four of the next five, 13-7
>Henno came alive for two kills, 9-13
>Two kills by the Cougars would end the match, 15-9

NOTES
>Sani has recorded an ace in each of the last five matches
>Doug Dahm had four block assists, the fifth consecutive match with four or more blocks

UP NEXT
>UCI hits the road next week starting with an exhibition against Benedictine Thursday (Feb. 1) before a pair of matches against Grand Canyon Friday and Saturday (Feb. 4&5).