UC IRVINE PRESS CONFERENCE

IRVINE, Calif. – No. 5 UC Irvine dropped a 3-1 decision to No. 1 Hawaii (18-25, 25-21, 13-25, 22-25) in the title match of the Big West Championship at the Bren Events Center in front of 4,064 fans.

Hawaii (28-2) had a season-high 17 blocks, the most against UCI this season. The Anteaters (18-11) had 12 blocks of their own, led by freshman middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev with eight total blocks (1 solo, 7 assists).

The Anteaters hit .160 (41-24-106) the third lowest performance of the season. Hawaii hit .330 (53-18-106) and out-dug the Anteaters 36-29.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Hilir Henno led UCI with 17 kills, one ace and five digs
>Opposite Francesco Sani had 13 kills, two aces, six digs and five block assists
>Outside hitter Cole Gillis added five kills and three block assists
>Setter Joe Karlous dished 27 set assists to go with six digs and two block assists
>Hawaii's Dimitrios Mouchlias matched Henno with 17 kills
>UH middle blocker Cole Hogland hit 1.000 (7-0-7) with a match-best eight blocks
>Setter Jakob Thelle was named Tournament MVP

FIRST SET
>A UH service error, a kill by Connor Campbell and an ace by Hilir Henno gave UCI a 6-3 lead
>Hawaii would use a pair of  kills and two aces to move in front 12-10
>Following a kill by Francesco Sani off the block, Hawaii would score five unanswered to take a 17-11
>Hawaii led 23-15 before UCI made a move on back-to-back blocks by Maxim Grigoriev, one solo one assisted, 23-1
>The Rainbow Warriors would go on to take the set 25-18

SECOND SET
>UCI took a 4-3 lead on consecutive kills by Sani, Campbell and Henno
>Back-to-back kills by Sani made it 6-4
>A trio of UH kills gave Hawaii a 10-8 advantage
>A 5-1 run which included a kill and ace by Sani helped the Anteaters back to a 15-13 lead
>Kills by William D'Arcy and Cole Gillis upped the advantage to 17-15
>Two errors by the Anteaters knotted the score at at 17-17
>A UH service error, a block by Grigoriev and Joe Karlous was followed by an ace by Gillis, 22-19
>Four consecutive service errors proceeded a kill by Henno that was helped by a UH player in the twine, 24-21
>Following a Hawaii timeout, Campbell and Karlous combined for a block to seal the win, 25-21

THIRD SET
>It was all Hawaii to start the third, 8-0
>UCI would get as close as 12-5 on a Henno kill
>Hawaii would win the set 25-13
>UCI hit .000 (7-7-26)

FOURTH SET
>UCI started with three attack errors, one on a UH block, 0-3
>With tough serving by Sani, Henno woud pound two kills to tie the set at 4-4
>Hawaii used a kill and a block to reestablish control 8-6
>A UCI service error plus a Hawaii block and kill gave the Rainbow Warriors a 15-12 advantage
>A kill by Sani and a block by Sani and Grigoriev inched UCI closer 16-18
>Pair of kills by Henno and an ace by Sani tied the set at 21s
>A kill by Dimitrios Mouchlias was followed by two by Chaz Galloway to end the match, 25-22

NOTES
>UCI is 0-3 against Hawaii at the Big West Championship
>UCI awaits the NCAA Selection show tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. to see if they will continue the season as an at-large selection