HONOLULU, Hawaii – In one of the premier matches of the season, No. 5 UC Irvine lost in four sets to No. 1 Hawaii (16-25, 25-17, 23-25, 22-25) at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Blocking was the ultimate difference with Hawaii holding a 10 to 3 advantage.  

Hawaii hit .451 (60-9-113) with six aces and 32 digs, while UCI hit .306 (58-14-111) with six aces and 33 digs. UH's .451 is the best attack percentage by an opponent this season.

UCI had a balanced offensive attack with four players in double-figure kills. Junior Francesco Sani, the reigning Player of the Week, was impressive once again with a team-high 19 kills, hitting .455 (19-4-33). He added an ace and four digs.

UCI drops its first Big West loss of the year and now sits on top of the standings with Hawaii and Long Beach State at 6-1. The Anteaters are 16-7 overall and Hawaii is 23-2.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Hilir Henno posted 14 kills, three aces, six digs and a block assist
>Outside hitter Cole Gillis had 12 kills, his 12^th double-digit kill performance of the season
>Middle blocker Doug Dahm returned to the starting lineup and was impressive, hitting .769 (10-0-13) with a season-high 10 kills. His .769 mark ranks third in the country in single match hitting percentage with 10-14 attempts
>Setter Joe Karlous was all over the court, dishing 48 set assists and collecting a match-high nine digs
>Hawaii's Dimitrios Mouchlias led all players with 23 kills, hitting .452 (23-4-42) and a career-high six total blocks (3 solo, 3 assisted). Spyros Chakas had 14 kills and three aces in the win

FIRST SET
>UCI would lead 7-5 on a Francesco Sani kill, but Hawaii would answer with three in a row and go on to out-score the Anteaters 9-2 to take a 14-9 lead
>A UH service error was followed by a kill from Cole Gillis, 13-18
>A kill by Sani and an ace by Conner Dahm keep UCI within range, 16-22
>Hawaii would score the final three points of the set, 25-16
>UH hit .609 (15-1-23)

SECOND SET
>A kill by Henno and a block by Henno and Connor Campbell moved UCI out to an early 2-1 lead
>A UH service error and an ace by Sani gave the Anteaters an 11-9 advantage
>Henno placed it in the back corner before Sani went off the block, Campbell had a kill in the middle and  Henno fired an ace to get to the media timeout, 15-10
>Out of the timeout, Hawaii would have a kill only to watch UCI score five more including two kills by Gillis and an ace by Akhil Tangutur, 20-11
>UCI would win 25-17, dominating the set with a .640 hitting percentage (16-0-24)

THIRD SET
>A kill by Doug Dahm and a solo block by Campbell helped UCI to a 2-1 advantage
>Hawaii would out-score UCI 4-1 on three kills and an ace to put the 'Bows in front 5-3
>The Anteaters answered with back-to-back kills by Henno, 5-5
>Two kills by D. Dahm and another by Sani pushed UCI ahead, 10-9
>Hawaii would score three unanswered to force a UCI timeout, 13-11
>The Anteaters used a UH service and attack error, a kill by Dahm and a no-look kill by Henno to knot the set at 19-19
>With the score tied at 20-20, Hawaii would score two to take a 22-20 lead
>A review gave UCI a replay and they took advantage, tying the set on a kill by Henno and a block by Joe Karlous and Campbell, 23-23
>Hawaii would score the final two points to win 25-23

FOURTH SET
>A kill by Campbell and an ace from Henno, 8-7
>Hawaii responded with the next six points to break open the set, 13-8
>A 4-1 spurt by the Anteaters, three on Hawaii errors, edged UCI closer, 12-14
>A kill Sani would narrow the deficit to 16-18
>Hawaii would score four of the next five to take a 22-17 advantage
>Sani had a kill before Karlous made an amazing attempt at a dig from on top of the press row table that was later deemed illegal, 18-23
>UCI wasn't done, scoring the next three, a kill by D. Dahm and two by Sani, 21-23
>Teams would trade points until Hawaii ended it with a kill, 25-22

NOTES
>Henno increased his ace total to 76 on the season
>D. Dahm returned after missing the last six matches
>UCI snapped a six-match winning streak, which was tied for the longest of the season
>Hawaii has won 11 in a row against the Anteaters

UP NEXT
The teams will meet again Saturday (Apr. 8) in Honolulu. First serve at 10:00 p.m. PT