IRVINE, Calif. – Serving was key as UCI fired eight aces, including three by Nolan Flexen. Junior Hilir Henno had two aces, becoming the Big West career leader with 136 bettering UC Santa Barbara's Ryan Wilcox's total from 2019-23. Henno accomplished the feat in just 50 career matches. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Hilir Henno smashed the match-clinching point as part of his 16 kils on the evening hitting .429
>Henno also produced two aces which tied and broke the Big West career record now standing at 136
>Nolan Flexen had his best night as an Anteater with 17 kills, three aces, and a .448 hitting percentage to lead all Anteaters
>The Anteater block produced eight total on the night with Connor Campbell notching the lone solo block along with four block assists
>Maxim Grigoriev was instrumental with seven kills and digs and four block assists of his own
>Five different 'Eaters had an ace for eight on the night to two for Saint Francis
>The Red Flash hit better on the scoresheet at .353 behind .519 from Nathan Zini who had 14 kills and no attack errors
 

FIRST SET
>A pair of Nolan Flexen aces gave UCI a 13-11 lead
>A 7-3 spurt by Saint Francis gave the Red Flash a 19-18 advantage
>Tied at 21-21, UCI used a pair of Hilir Henno kills to move in front 23-21
>Following a SFU timeout, another Henno kill was followed by a block by Beck Weber and Brett Sheward to end the set, 25-21

SECOND SET
>A kill and ace by Henno started the set quickly, 2-0, and gave Henno 135 career aces to tie the Big West record
>Another ace by Flexen increased the lead to 6-3 then a kill by Sheward and an ace by Connor Campbell increased the margin to 8-4
>Three in a row, including two Red Flash errors and a laser beam from Flexen moved the lead to 14-8
>A triple block by Beck Webber, Maxim Grigoriev and Henno, got the Anteaters to 21-13 before Saint Francis rallied on four UCI attack errors, forcing a timeout by David Kniffin, 21-17
>UCI held set point 24-19 on a kill by Grigoriev kill, before SFU rallied again on four straight kills to creep to 24-23 until Flexen banged a kill to end the set, 25-23

THIRD SET
>Henno became the sole leader of the Big West career ace record with one at 3-2, the 136th of his career
>Consecutive kills by Flexen, Grigoriev and Henno plus a block by Grigoriev and Connor Campbell moved UCI out to a 7-3 lead
>The Red Flash would close within one four times but the Anteaters answered every challenge, including peeling off five in a row including an ace by Webber and kill and block by Campbell, 19-13
>SFU made it interesting fighting off four match points before Henno put down the winner, 25-22

LOOKING AHEAD
The Anteaters are 1-1 through the first two matches of their four-match homestand to start the year with No. 15 Princeton up next on Saturday, January 13 at 6:00 p.m. in Crawford Hall.