Box Score IRVINE, Calif. – Nolan Flexen and Hilir Henno let their volleyball skills do the talking in No. 3 UC Irvine's 3-1 victory (20-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-18) over No. 15 Princeton in front of the first sell-out of the season at Crawford Hall Saturday.

Flexen put on a show, hitting .667 on a match-high 20 kills with just two errors in 27 attempts, the third best offensive performance in the country with 20 or more attempts. The outside hitter also had four digs, two block assists and an ace.

The Anteaters had a season-best 13 aces, which is the fifth most in the nation this season. Junior Hilir Henno tied his own UCI and Big West record with nine aces, recording the second most in the country this year. The outside hitter tallied 11 kills and two total blocks (1 solo, 1 assisted).

UCI improves to 2-1 overall and hands Princeton their first loss, 2-1.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Middle blocker Connor Campbell had seven kills and three block assists
>Rightside hitter Maxim Grigoriev dominated at the net with a season-high seven total blocks (1 solo, 6 assisted). The sophomore totaled five kills, two aces and three digs
>Middle blocker Beck Weber had five block assists and three kills
>UCI out-blocked Princeton 10-5 and out-hit the Tigers .390-.208
> Nyherowo Omene paced Princeton with 11 kills

FIRST SET
>Princeton started with the quick 4-1 lead and increased the margin to 8-4 on back-to-back UCI attack errors
>Nolan Flexen dented the Taraflex before the Tigers hit one into the net to get the Anteaters to 7-10
>Princeton would hit .667 to UCI's .000 to lead 15-11 at the media timeout
>Two UCI service errors, a Princeton ace and block moved the Tiger lead to 19-13
>Hilir Henno would heat up with a kill and back-to-back aces to close the gap to 18-21
>An ace put the Tigers at set point 24-18 and they would go on to win 25-20 on the strength of .733 (12-1-15) hitting percentage

SECOND SET
>UCI scored the first three on Princeton errors, the last two on blocks by Maxim Grigoriev
>The Tigers would catch the Anteaters at 6-6
>Grigoriev and Beck Weber would reject back-to-back attempts, 12-9
>Three more aces by Henno extended the lead to 17-10
>A kill by Connor Campbell, an ace by Grigoriev and a Tiger attack error made it 23-13
>UCI would win the set 25-17

THIRD SET
>UCI exploded out of the gate with a 7-0 lead that included another Henno ace, a triple block by Flexen, Weber and Grigoriev and two Flexen kills
>The Anteaters would hold a 16-4 lead before four unanswered by the Tigers forced a UCI timeout, 16-8
>Consecutive kills by Henno followed to quiet the Tigers, 18-8
>Another 4-0 run by Princeton gave the Tigers life, 20-15
>Henno would end the set with a kill, 25-19

FOURTH SET
>Another quick start by UCI was capped by another Henno ace and a triple block, 6-0
>Four straight by the Anteaters was highlighted by a Flexen ace, pushing the advantage to 13-3
>Henno tied his school record with an ace for set point, 24-15
>Princeton would keep fans in the stands for a few more points until a service error ended the match, 25-18

NOTES
>UCI has won the last 15 matches against the Tigers
>Libero Cole Power had five digs
>UCI has out-blocked all three opponents this season

UP NEXT
UCI rounds out its four-match homestand entertaining McKendree Wednesday (Jan. 17) at 6:00 p.m. at Crawford Hall.