SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – No. 5 UC Irvine was efficient on offense once again in a 3-0 victory (25-20, 25-15, 25-22) over No. 19 UC Santa Barbara at The Thunderdome Friday.

The Anteaters remain undefeated in Big West action (4-0) and improve to 15-6 overall after hitting .359 (44-11-92), led by Hilir Henno's match-high 21 kills. Henno hit .474 (21-3-38), fired three aces, had three digs and a solo block.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Opposite William D'Arcy posted nine kills and seven digs,
>Middle blocker Connor Campbell was errorless with eight kills on 13 swings. He had a team-best four total blocks (1 solo)
>Setter Brett Sheward totaled 37 set assists and nine digs, matching Akhil Tangutur for the team lead in digs
>UCSB was led by Geste Bianchi's 15 kills
>The Anteaters out-blocked the Gauchos, 8-6 and held a 40-29 advantage in digs. UCI had five aces to UCSB's 1
>UC Santa Barbara hit .184 and fall to 7-14, 0-5.

FIRST SET
> A solo block and three Hilir Henno kills helped UCI out to a 7-2 lead
>Cole Power laid out for a dig that went over the net and off a Gaucho defender for a kill, 12-6
>Henno smashed another kill to extend the lead to 15-9
>UCSB would score three ina row to close to 18-16 before out of the back row
>UCI would score the final three points, two kills by Wiliam D'Arcy and a block by Akhil Tangutur and Maxim Grigoriev, 25-20
>Henno hitting .600 with a team best 9 kills

SECOND SET
>Kills by D'Arcy and Henno started the set
>A Grigoriev ace capped a 3-0 run to put the Anteaters in front 5-2
>Back-to-back aces by Henno forced a UCSB timeout, 10-7
>Grigoriev would record a kill then step back and served tough the next five points, including a solo block by Henno and a block by Brett Sheward and Connor Campbell, 20-11
>Henno crushed a ball from the back row, 23-14
>A kill by D'Arcy and a Guacho attack that sailed out ended the set, 25-15

THIRD SET
>UCSB came out swinging, scoring the first three points
>UCI went up 11-10 on a 5-1 spurt which saw three Henno kills
>A Henno ace made it 16-13 before the Gauchos went on a 6-2 run to move in front 19-18
>UCSB would lead 20-19 before the Anteaters peeled off four in a row on a kill by Henno, ace by Grigoriev and kills by Campbell and Henno, 23-20. The Campbell kill came after a great dig by Tangutur to start the rally
>A kill by Henno from the right side ended the match, 25-22

UP NEXT
UCI will take a break for final examinations and return to action Mar. 29 at CSUN.