IRVINE, Calif. – Sophomore Hilir Henno set the UC Irvine match record for aces in a 3-1 win over Pepperdine (25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 25-17) at the Bren Events Center Friday night.

Henno fired eight aces, bettering Aaron Harrell's record of seven set in 2008 versus Hawaii. His eight aces are tied for second most in the country this year. Henno has 33 aces on the season and 78 in his career, moving into 10^th all-time in aces at UCI. The outside hitter also tied for the team lead in digs with seven, recorded 10 kills and had five total blocks (I solo, 4 assisted) in the win.

The Anteaters out-blocked the Waves 14.5 to 6 and out-aced them 13-3. UCI's 13 aces are a season-high and tied for fourth most in a four-set match nationally.

UCI improves to 9-3 overall, while Pepperdine goes to 8-4.

HEAD COACH DAVID KNIFFIN SAID
"It was a very exciting performance from Hilir from the service line. I think the defining set tonight was our loss in the second set. We were down by quite a bit, and it would have been easy to roll over and they competed and pressed it to a deuce game and I think that tells a lot about who we are becoming as a team."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Francesco Sani had 15 kills, hitting .440 (15-4-25). He added two aces, four digs and three block assists
>Middle blocker Doug Dahm tied his career-high with seven block assists
>Middle blocker Connor Campbell totaled six total blocks (1 solo, 5 assisted)
>Opposite Cole Gillis tallied seven kills, two aces and three block assists
>Setter Joe Karlous had 29 set assists, four digs and two block assists
>Libero Cole Power matched Henno with a team-high seven digs
>Jaylen Jasper topped Pepperdine with 16 kills

FIRST SET
>UCI started the match with a huge block by Hilir Henno and Doug Dahm
>A kill by Francesco Sani and back-to-back aces by Cole Gillis forced a Pepperdine timeout, 7-3
>A kill by Gillis, a solo block by Connor Campbell, two Wave attack errors and a kill by Sani from a Henno flying set increased the margin to 18-8
>Four consecutive Pepperdine points narrowed the lead to 21-16
>Gillis would put away the set winner, 25-20

SECOND SET
>Pepperdine led 6-3 and later 9-6
>Two Pepperdine mistakes and an ace by Henno tied the set at 11-11
>Kills by Sani and Henno plus an ace by Dylan Zhai gave the Anteaters a 15-13 advantage
>The Waves answered with four unanswered to move in front 17-15
>An attack error by Pepperdine and a kill by Henno deadlocked the set once again
>Pepperdine came alive scoring the next three, 20-17
>UCI wouldn't go away, using two kills by Sani and a block by Campbell and Sani, 23-24 
>Following a timeout, the Waves would put away a kill to win the set 25-23

THIRD SET
>A Pepperdine service error was followed by a kill by Sani, 9-7
>Sani elevated for a block with D. Dahm, 13-11
>Pepperdine would reel off the next three on two kills and an ace to move in front 14-13
>Pepperdine called timeout after UCI had a block by William D'Arcy and Campbell and an ace by Sani, 17-15
>The Waves quickly scored the next two to tie the score at 17s
>Akin Akinwumi put down two kills in the middle to push Pepperdine in front 20-19
>The Anteaters answered with a Pepperdine service error and five straight aces by Henno to close out the set, 25-20

FOURTH SET
>UCI started with a bang, recording a block by Gillis and D. Dahm and another ace by Henno. That ace was a new match record with eight for Henno
>Two errors and an ace by Sani extended the lead to 9-6
>Henno continued to dominate with a kill and a solo block, 11-7
>Sani would record a kill from the back row on the second ball, 15-8
>A D. Dahm kill in the middle was followed by a Wave attack that sailed wide for the Anteater win 25-17

NOTES
>UCI totaled 30.5 blocks over the two matches with the Waves
>Sani has recorded an ace in nine straight matches and had two or more aces in the last four
>Over the last five matches, Henno has recorded 22 aces

UP NEXT
UCI will take the week off and return to action Feb. 24 against UCLA. First serve from the Bren Center is 7:00 p.m.