LOS ANGELES, Calif. – No. 7 UC Irvine watched No. 5 UCLA record timely aces to beat the Anteaters, 3-1  (25-23, 23-25, 28-26, 25-22) at Pauley Pavilion.

UCI hit .357 (55-14-115), the third highest offensive performance of the season, but UCLA fired 10 aces and hit .432 (65-11-125). The Bruins also held a 11-6 block advantage.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Nolan Flexen led UCI with 19 kills, hitting .385 (19-4-39)
>Outside hitter Hilir Henno hit .448 with 16 kills and just three errors on 29 attempts. He led all players with four aces and added eight digs and two total blocks
>Opposite Maxim Grigoriev recorded his second double-double with 12 kills and a career and match-high 11 digs
>Middle blocker Connor Campbell pitched in eight kills, while hitting .636 (8-1-11)
>Conner Dahm had a team-best three total blocks, including one solo
>Setter Brett Sheward totaled 44 set assists, seven digs and an ace
>UCLA (8-2) was led for the second consecutive match with a career-high 23 kills by Cooper Robinson

FIRST SET
>UCI came out of the gate firing with a 5-0 lead on two kills and a solo block by Nolan Flexen and two aces by Hilir Henno
>Another kill by Flexen made it 8-2
>UCLA would go on a 9-2 run to take the 13-12 advantage
>UCI would score three in a row on a Bruin service error and kills by Henno and Flexen, 20-18
>UCI led 21-19 before a service error was followed by two UCLA aces, 22-21
>Tied at 23-23, UCLA had back-to-back kills to close the set 25-23

SECOND SET
>Two Bruin errors helped UCI to a 14-13 lead before UCLA broke open the set with five straight on four kills and a block, 18-14
>UCI wouldn't go away using three kills and two aces by Henno to tie the set at 19-19
>UCI used a Bruin service error, kill by Henno and block by Connor Campbell and Maxim Grigoriev, 23-21
>A kill by Campbell gave UCI set point which was delayed  by a Bruin kill. Henno would have the set winner, 25-23

THIRD SET
>Kills by Campbell, Grigoriev, Flexen and Henno helped UCI out to a 6-3 lead
>A solo block by Conner Dahm made it 8-4
>A Bruin service error,  solo block by Henno and an ace by Brett Sheward gave UCI the 18-15 advantage
>UCLA would score the next three to knot the score at 18-18
>A 4-1 spurt by the Anteaters which included two Grigoriev kills stretched the lead to 22-19
>The Bruins would score four in a row, two aces by Merrick McHenry for set point, 24-23
>Teams would trade points before a kill and solo block by Grant Sloane handed the Bruins 28-26 victory

FOURTH SET
>UCLA won a long rally to go up 7-5
>UCLA would hold a 17-15 lead before the Anteaters had a kill by Flexen and a Bruin attack error to tie the set at 17s
>A UCLA service error and a kill by Campbell on the overpass moved UCI in front 20-19
>A kill and three service aces by Zach Rama would follow to flip the script to the Bruins side, 24-21
>A UCI block was followed by a Bruin kill to end the match, 25-22

NOTES
>Grigoriev totaled double digits kills for the fifth consecutive match
>UCI loses back-to-back matches for the first time this season

UP NEXT
UCI returns home to take on USC Wednesday (Feb. 7) at 7:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.