PROVO, Utah – A trio of Anteaters had kills in double figures as No. 8 UC Irvine beat No. 14 Lewis in the season-opener, 3-1 (26-28, 28-26, 25-22, 25-23) at Smith Fieldhouse on the campus of BYU.

UCI hit .412 as a team (60-13-114), led by All-Americans junior Francesco Sani and sophomore Hilir Henno.

Sani started with a bang, hitting .588 with a match-high 22 kills on 34 swings and just two errors.   

Henno picked up where he left off last season from the service line, firing five aces to go with 18 kills and a .452 hitting percentage.

The duo also added two block assists apiece.

HEAD COACH DAVID KNIFFIN SAID:
"We are grateful to BYU for always being such great hosts. This is an amazing place to start the 2023 campaign. I appreciated that we improved as the night went on. And at the end of the night, hitting above .400 is a good offensive night."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Cole Gillis was solid from the outside with 12 kills, hitting .385 (12-2-26)
>In his Anteater debut, setter Joe Karlous totaled 47 set assists, four digs and a solo block
>In the middle junior Connor Campbell and freshman Max Grigoriev each pitched in three kills and two total blocks. Doug Dahm recorded two kills and a block assist
>Libero Cole Power had a match-high eight digs
>UCI out-blocked Lewis 7.0-5.5
>The Flyers hit .423 (62-15-111) and were led by Max Roquet's 17 kills

FIRST SET
>The 2023 season started with a block by Cole Gillis and Doug Dahm, 1-0
>UCI would score three in a row, one a kill and one an ace by Hilir Henno, 3-4
>A kill by D. Dahm and another ace by Henno put UCI up 12-10
>UCI would hold a 15-14 lead until the Flyers would have four consecutive kills to move in front 18-15
>A kill by Henno, a Lewis attack error and a kill by Gillis evened the game at 19 all
>The teams would trade points until UCI used a service error and a kill by Henno to hold set point, 26-25
>Following a Lewis timeout, the Flyers would score the final three points to win the set, 28-26

SECOND SET
>In a closely contested set, Lewis would make the first move on a UCI attack error, a kill and an ace, 16-13
>Down 14-17, UCI rallied on a service error and two aces by Henno to tie the set at 17-17
>A Henno kill once again put UCI at set point and Lewis called timeout. Next, Sani was awarded a kill after a UCI challenge, which would have been the set winner, but Lewis then challenged a pancake during the play that found the ball to be dead so Flyers got the point and the teams played on 24-24
>Back-to-back kills by Sani and Henno would soon give UCI the 28-26 victory

THIRD SET
>Kills by Max Grigoriev and Cole Gillis helped the Anteaters to a 10-7 lead
>Three in a row by the Flyers moved them in front 15-14
>A kill followed by a serve that was called out, but was overturned and called an ace moved Lewis to a 22-20 advantage
>A kill by Sani followed by a Flyer attack that sailed long knotted the set at 22-22 and forced a Lewis timeout
>The Anteaters exploded with back-to-back solo blocks by Joe Karlous and Grigoriev and a kill by Henno to take the set 25-22
>UCI hit .542 in the set (15-2-24)

FOURTH SET
>UCI had a pair of kills by Sani, 6-4
>Three Flyer errors over four points helped UCI to a 10-7 advantage
>The Flyers would catch UCI at 16-16, but the Anteaters would have kills by Grigoriev and Sani and an ace by Henno to go up 19-16
>The Flyers would close within one four times but UCI would continue to answer, the final time on a kill by Gillis to end the set and match, 25-23   

NOTES
>It is Henno's 14^th career match with multiple aces
>All but one Anteater recorded two or more digs
>In his first match as an Anteater, Grigoriev hit 1.000 (3-0-3)

UP NEXT
UCI will face McKendree tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. PT from Smith Fieldhouse