HONOLULU, Hawaii – No. 5 UC Irvine toppled No. 1 Grand Canyon 3-2 ( 25-21, 19-25, 24-26, 29-27, 15-6) in the first match of the OUTRIGGER Volleyball Invitational held at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

UCI hands GCU their first loss of the season (15-1) and wins its seventh straight match to improve to 13-4 overall.

UCI's high-flying offense hit .643 (10-1-14) in the final set and ended the match, hitting .370 (72-15-154). The Anteaters' 72 kills are a season-high and tied for fourth most in the nation in 2024.

Outside Hilir Henno tied his career-high with a match-best 29 kills, hitting .406 (29-3-64) with eight digs, an ace and a block assist. His 29 kills are tied for third most in the country this season.

Rightside hitter William D'Arcy hit .548, pounding a career-best 19 kills on 31 attempts and just two errors. The junior added an ace and two block assists. He lead UCI in the fifth set, recording five kills in six attempts (.833).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev had a team-best five total blocks (2 solo, 3 assisted), three aces and 12 kills
>Setter Brett Sheward, the reigning Big West Offensive Player of the Week, totaled a career-best 58 set assists, 10 digs and three blocks (1 solo)
>Libero Cole Power had a season-high 15 digs
>Middle blocker Connor Campbell added six kills and three block assists
>Outside hitter Akhil Tangutur posted five kills, a season-high 10 digs and three block assists
>GCU was led by Jackson Hickman's 23 kills. He hit .605 (23-0-38) with 15 digs
>Grand Canyon, who hit .283, held a slight 11-10 block and 8-7 ace advantage. The Anteaters out-dug the Antelopes 58-52

FIRST SET
>UCI started the match with consecutive kills by Maxim Grigoriev, Hilir Henno and Campbell, 3-0
>The Antelopes would use a kill, block and UCI attack error to knot the set at 4-4
>The teams remained close until UCI had six straight on three Henno kills, a kill by William D'Arcy and two GCU attack errors, 22-16
>A kill by Henno increased the lead to 23-18
>The 'Lopes would score three of the next four until a GCU service error handed the Anteaters the 25-21 victory

SECOND SET
>UCI exploded for seven in a row, including two aces by Grigoriev and kills by Henno, Connor Campbell and Brett Sheward, 7-2
>GCU would out-score UCI 6-2 on the strength of three blocks to catch the Anteaters at 13 all
>Camden Gianni fired four aces in a 6-0 spurt by GCU to push the 'Lopes in front 20-15
>GCU would score the final three points, 25-19
>The Anteaters hit just .143

THIRD SET
>A 4-1 run by UCI was capped by a Henno kill giving UCI a 5-3 lead
>A kill by William D'Arcy and a GCU attack moved the Anteaters in front 9-7
>A kill and block by the 'Lopes gave GCU separation, 16-14
>A pair of kills by Jackson Hickman increased the Antelopes lead to 20-17
>UCI rallied on a kill by Grigoriev, two GCU attack errors, the last on a reversed challenge, and a solo block by Sheward forcing a Grand Canyon timeout, 23-22
>A Grigoriev kill gave UCI set point only to watch GCU have three consecutive kills to win 26-24

FOURTH SET
>A kill and solo block by Grigoriev put UCI ahead 2-1
>The teams would go point-for-point until GCU used a kill and Anteater attack error to pull ahead 20-17 and force a UCI timeout
>UCI scored three in a row on a kill by D'Arcy, ace by Dahm and block by D'Arcy and Grigoriev to tie it at 20-20
>GCU would hold match point on a block, 24-23 before the Anteaters battled back on a pair of kills by Henno, 25-24
>The teams would play on until UCI had a block by Akhil Tangutur and Campbell and a ball-handling error by GCU, 29-27

FIFTH SET
>Kills by Grigoriev and D'Arcy started the set
>A 4-1 run which included two kills by D'Arcy and a kill and ace by Henno forced an early GCU timeout, 6-2
>Kills by Campbell and D'Arcy extended the advantage to 8-3
>Another D'Arcy kill and an ace by Tangutur made it 11-5 before a Grigoriev solo block and a Henno kill pushed the lead to 12-6
>Out of a timeout, UCI closed out the match on an ace by Grigoriev and a block by Sheward and Campbell, 15-6

NOTES
>Seven straight wins is the third longest winning streak in the country
>UCI is 6-2 all-time versus GCU
>The Anteaters are 2-2 when going five sets in 2024

UP NEXT
UCI will face No. 15 Lewis tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. PT in Day 2 of the Invitational