LA JOLLA, Calif. – No. 6 UC Irvine swept UC San Diego (25-16, 25-17, 25-14) for the second consecutive night.

The Anteaters hit a blistering .542 at the LionTree Arena Saturday, which is tied for the eighth best mark in the country this season. UCI committed just five errors the entire match, hitting a scorching .609 in the second stanza (16-2-23).

Francesco Sani led all players with 11 kills, hitting .474 (11-2-19). He added five digs, two aces and two block assists.

UCI opens Big West play 2-0, the best start since 2019. The Anteaters improve to 12-6, while UC San Diego goes to 6-12, 0-4.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Sophomore Hilir Henno put down 10 kills, hit .562 (10-1-16) and fired three aces
>Freshman Maxim Grigoriev had an impressive night, totaling eight kills on 11 swings without an error (.727) and had a match-best four block assists
>Junior Cole Gillis hit .462 (7-1-13) and recorded two aces
>Middle blocker Connor Campbell was also errorless  with five kills on seven attempts
>Josh Schellinger had a team-best nine kills for the Tritons who hot .229 as a team
>UCI out-blocked UCSD, 9-1 and out-aced the Tritons 8-0

FIRST SET
>Teams would stay close until a triple block by Francesco Sani, Maxim Grigoriev and Cole Gillis started a 5-0 run and was capped by a kill by Hilir Henno out of the backrow to lead 10-5. UCI had three blocks in the run
>A kill by Gillis out of the backrow and a UCSD error moved the advantage to 15-8
>A 5-1 spurt, which included two Gillis kills, gave the Anteaters a 17-9 lead
>UCI would go on to win the set on a Triton attack error, 25-16
>The Anteaters hit .536 (16-1-28)

SECOND SET
>Seven unanswered points on a kill from Grigoriev in the middle, one by Gillis, an ace by Sani, a kill by Henno, a block by Grigoriev and a kill and ace by Sani opened a 12-4 Anteater advantage
>A kill by Sani, an ace by Karlous and a block by Henno and Campbell moved the margin to 18-9
>UCI had just two attack errors on the way to a 25-17

THIRD SET
>Henno had a kill and an ace to get UCI out to a 3-0 lead
>A kill by Sani started a 4-0 spurt to open a 16-8 gap
>A UCSD service error was followed by an Akhil Tangutur kill and two Henno aces for match point
>A service error delayed it momentarily before a kill by Connor Campbell ended it, 25-14

NOTES
>Sani has at least one ace in each of the last 15 matches
>UCI already held the top hitting percentage in the country with a .592 performance against Concordia

UP NEXT
UCI will travel to UC Santa Barbara Thursday (Mar. 16) before hosting the Gauchos at the Bren Events Center Friday (Mar. 17) at 7:00 p.m.