PROVO, Utah – No. 7 UC Irvine posted a season-high 17 blocks in 3-2 win over No. 8 BYU (23-25, 26-24, 25-28, 23-25, 15-13) at Smith Fieldhouse Saturday.

The Anteaters' 17 blocks are tied for third most in the country this season. Middle blocker Connor Campbell had a match and season-high eight total blocks (1 solo, seven assisted) to go with three kills.

UCI's offensive triple threat was on display again led by Nolan Flexen's 18 kills, hitting .333 (18-4-42) with a career-best six block assists. Hilir Henno and Maxim Grigoriev followed with 15 kills each. Henno would add two aces and five block assists, while Grigoriev totaled nine digs and four block assists.

UCI wins its fifth in a row and improves to 5-1 overall. The Anteaters out-hit BYU .308 (58-18-130) to the Cougars' .168 (55-32-137).

NOLAN FLEXEN SAID
"The setter was putting it right where we needed it tonight. I may have led the team in kills, but everyone out here did exactly what they needed to do tonight."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Libero Cole Power had a season-high 10 digs for the second night in a row
>Middle blocker Conner Dahm matched his career-high from a night ago with five kills and recorded a new career-best with six block assists
>Setter Brett Sheward had 47 set assists, nine digs, three total blocks (1 solo, 2 assisted) and two kills
>BYU (7-3) was led by Luke Benson with a match-high 21 kills
>The Cougars serving topped UCI's on the second night with seven aces to the Anteaters' 4

FIRST SET
>A pair of kills by Nolan Flexen and a block by Flexen and Connor Campbell got UCI out to a 4-1 advantage
>The Cougars would chip away and score three in a row on two kills by Luke Benson and an ace by Miks Ramanis to tie the score at 6-6
>BYU would take its first lead of the set on a UCI service error and a block (11-10), but it was short-lived as the Anteaters scored six straight using a kill by Maxim Grigoriev, two Cougar attack errors, two blocks assisted by Campbell and a kill by Henno, 16-11
>A 6-1 run by BYU, which included four Anteater miscues, tied the set at 17-17
>BYU would score two in row to move in front 21-20
>The teams would trade points until BYU used a UCI attack error and a kill by Benson to win, 25-23
>The Cougars won the set hitting just .107 (10-7-28) to UCI's .345 (14-4-29), but had three aces in the set. The Anteaters had eight service errors

SECOND SET
>The teams remained close with a kill by Hilir Henno sending UCI to the media timeout up 15-13
>Kills by Conner Dahm and Flexen forced a BYU timeout, 19-17
>A kill by Henno and a Cougar attack that sailed wide moved UCI out to a 23-21 lead
>A BYU service error gave the Anteaters set point but once again BYU answered on back-to-back kills, 24-24
>Kills by Henno and Grigoriev ended the set, 26-24

THIRD SET
>Two BYU attack errors started the set
>A dump by Brett Sheward, a BYU attack error and a kill by Henno gave UCI some separation, 11-7
>BYU would catch UCI at 13-13, but UCI would have three consecutive kills by Flexen to lead 17-14
>A kill by Grigoriev and UCI's first ace of the match by Campbell gave UCI a 20-16 advantage
>The Anteaters would score the final three points of the set, the last an ace by Henno, 25-18

FOURTH SET
>A kill by Flexen and another ace by Henno gave UCI the 2-0 lead
>A 5-1 run started by three in a row by BYU moved the Cougars out to an 8-5 lead
>A Cougar service error and a solo block by Sheward started a 4-1 UCI run that tied the set at 16-16
>BYU answered with a 4-1 spurt of their own to remain in control, 21-18
>The Cougars would lead 23-19 before UCI had a block by Campbell and Flexen and two BYU errors to creep within 22-23
>BYU would score two of the final three points, the last a UCI attack error, to force a fifth set, 25-23
>Ian Little ignited BYU with six kills and an ace in the set

FIFTH SET
>BYU jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead but the Anteaters rallied scoring the next three on a kill by Flexen, a BYU error and a Conner Dahm ace, 4-3
>A kill by Henno and a BYU attack error made it 7-5 for the Anteaters
>A Cougar kill and UCI player into the net helped BYU tie the set at 9-9
>A kill and an ace moved BYU in front 12-11 before a BYU service and attack error flipped the script to the UCI side, 13-12
>A BYU solo block tied it at 13-13
>A BYU service error was followed by a solo block by Campbell for the 15-13 victory

NOTES
>UCI goes 1-1 this season in five set matches
>Four aces matches UCI's season-low

UP NEXT
UCI will host UCLA Wednesday (Jan. 31) at the BREN EVENTS CENTER at 7:00 p.m. Note there has been a venue and time change from the original schedule.