THIS WEEK 
No. 15 CSUN at  No. T5 UC Irvine
Friday, Mar. 31 | 7:00 PM | Bren Events Center
Live Stats    Watch

No. T5 UC Irvine at No. 15 CSUN
Saturday, Apr. 1 | 7:00 PM | Premier America Credit Union Arena
Live Stats   Watch

FIRST SERVE
No. T5 UC Irvine will host No. 15 CSUN Friday (Mar.31) at 7:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center before heading up the 405 Saturday (Apr. 1) to face the Matadors again this time at the Premier America Credit Union Arena beginning at 7:00 p.m.  

The UCI baseball team will also be in action with the game starting at 6:00 p.m. so fans should allow extra time in the parking structure.

STORYLINES
UCI has been idle since Mar. 17.
 
The Anteaters are 14-6 overall and 7-3 at home this season.
 
After going 4-2 in the month of February, UCI bounced back to go 5-1 in March with the lone loss a 3-2 defeat against No. 3 Penn State.
 
UCI is the only unbeaten team in conference play, taking down UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara twice each. Three of the four wins came in three sets.
 
The Anteaters have swept opponents nine times this season.
 
UCI won both meetings last season, taking a 3-0 victory at home and 3-1 in Northridge.
 
The Anteaters own a 38-36 series advantage.

CSUN is 12-9 overall and 1-3 in Big West action.
 
The Matadors are looking to snap a four-match losing streak. After they started the Big West schedule with a 3-1 win over UC San Diego, CSUN had losses to the Tritons (0-3) and Daemen University (2-3) before dropping a pair of sweeps at home to Hawaii last week.
 
UCI is ranked fourth in the country in aces with a 1.91 average per set. They are also 10^th in hitting percentage (.326), 11^th in assists (11.64), 12^th in kills (12.30) and 13^th in blocks (2.23).
 
The Anteaters own the top two hitting marks in the Big West with a .592 mark at Concordia and a .542 performance at UC San Diego.
 
CSUN and UCI share the top spot for most digs in a match with 61. The Anteaters did it against Penn State, while the Matadors scooped them versus Stanford.
 
The Anteaters also hold the top mark in aces, firing 13 three times, against Pepperdine, Penn State and most recently at UC Santa Barbara.

ACE KING
Hilir Henno has cemented himself as one of the best servers in UCI history. He became the season record holder against UC Santa Barbara with 64 and counting. The sophomore bettered the mark of 63 previously held by Michael Saeta in 2017.
 
Currently, he has 109 in his career which is tied for fourth with former All-American Zack La Cavera (2012-15). Carson Clark holds the all-time record with 183 from 2009-2012.
 
He set the UCI match record for aces with nine against  Penn State, which is tied for the most in the country this season.
 
The outside hitter leads the country in ace average with a .941 mark.
 
The sophomore is also 11th in the nation in points (4.49). He is seventh in the Big West in kills (3.34) and hitting percentage (.311) and 13th in digs (1.51).
 
SOMETHING ABOUT SANI
Opposite Francesco Sani has four of the top six kill performances by a Big West player this season. He is tied for second with a career-high 26 against BYU then is fifth with 23 versus USC and sixth with 22 against Lewis as well as Penn State.

Sani is seventh in the country in points (4.64) and 10th in kills. The junior ranks fifth in the Big West in hitting percentage (.319) and 11th in blocks (.649).

GOING TO GILLIS
Junior Cole Gillis ranks fourth in the Big West in hitting percentage (.341) and is 13th in kills (2.54).
 
The outside hitter has 11 matches with double-digit kills and is third on the team in aces with 22.
 
He owns the top hitting percentage with a minimum of 20 attempts nationally at .800 (16-0-20).

RACKING UP THE AWARDS
UCI players have won several awards this season. Hilir

Henno was named Big West Offensive Player of the Week twice as well as AVCA Player of the Week on Jan. 9. Cole Gillis earned his first career Big West Offensive Player of the Week honor on Jan. 23. Libero Cole Power was named Big West Defensive Player of the Week (Jan. 9), while opposite William D'Arcy was named Big West Freshman of the Week twice (1/16 & 2/13).

Most recently, setter Joe Karlous was tabbed Defensive Player of the Week and middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev grabbed his second Freshman of the Week accolade. UCI is the only team to sweep all three weekly awards on Mar. 20.
 
UP NEXT
The Anteaters will head to Hawaii for a pair of matches next week (Apr. 7 &8) before returning for the regular season finale against Long Beach State Apr. 15.
 
The Bren Center will host the Big West Championship Apr. 20-22.