No. 4 UC Irvine Hosts No. 1 Long Beach State Friday In Home Finale
April 10, 2024 | Men's Volleyball
THIS WEEK
No. 1 Long Beach State vs No. 4 UC Irvine
Friday, Apr. 12 | 6:00 PM | Bren Events Center
Live Stats Watch
No. 4 UC Irvine at No. 1 Long Beach State
Saturday, Apr. 13 | 7:00 PM | Walter Pyramid
Live Stats Watch
FIRST SERVE
No. 4 UCI closes out the regular season with a pair of matches against No. 1 Long Beach State. The Anteaters and Beach will meet at the Bren Events Center Friday (Apr. 12) at 6:00 p.m. before heading to the Walter Pyramid Saturday (Apr. 13) for a 7:00 p.m. first serve.
Following Friday's match, UCI will celebrate graduating student-athletes, Connor Campbell, Conner Dahm, Gustavo Gomes, Davis Lau, Cole Power, Akhil Tangutur and Brett Sheward.
STORYLINES
UCI moved up to No. 4 after splitting the season series with No. 4 Hawaii last week.
UC Irvine has 13 wins over ranked opponents including four against Top 5 opponents, three away from the Bren Center (No. 1 GCU, No. 4 Hawaii, No. 5 Stanford twice).
The Anteaters have only played four unranked teams and seen action against the MPSF, Northeast Conference, MIVA and EIVA.
The Anteaters are 17-8 overall with four of the losses coming in five sets, including two versus Top 5 teams.
UCI is 6-2 in the Big West standings, sitting in second place and holding the tie-breaker with Hawaii with a 4-3 games advantage.
LBSU is 22-1 on the year and remains undefeated in Big West action at 8-0.
The Beach is riding a 12-match winning streak.
UCI beat Long Beach State, 3-0, the last time they met in the semifinals of the 2023 Big West Championships held at the Bren Center.
The Anteaters hit .329 (39-12-82), while limiting The Beach to a .157 (33-19-89) mark. Hilir Henno topped the Anteaters with a then-career-high with 22 kills, hitting .471 (22-6-34).
UCI leads the country in kills (13.42) and assists (12.65). The Anteaters rank sixth in digs (9.34) and seventh in hitting percentage (.327).
Hilir Henno leads the country in points per set at 5.50 and is second in kills at 4.73. Henno had a career-high 36 kills in the non-conference match with Hawaii, the second most in the country in 2024.
Setter Brett Sheward is second in assist average with a 10.52 mark.
The Beach is first nationally in blocks (3.315) with Lazar Bouchkov (1.37) and Simon Torwie (1.33) topping the Big West. LBSU is also fifth in hitting percentage (.344) and sixth in aces (1.70).
DEALING ACES
Henno is now eight aces shy of tying the UCI career ace record currently held by Carson Clark at 183 from 2009-12. He has 175 in just 73 career matches.
He already owns the Big West career record as well as the match record with nine versus Princeton.
The outside hitter leads the Big West and is 11th nationally in aces with a .448 mark.
HAWAII REWIND
The first night, the Anteaters swept the Rainbow Warriors, 3-0, behind hitting .425 (45-8-87), the third best offensive performance of the season.
Hilir Henno led all players with 20 kills, hitting .679 (20-1-28), the ninth time he has recorded 20 or more kills times this season.
UCI out-blocked UH, 10-3 behind the strength of middle blocker's Maxim Grigoriev's match-best six block assists.
The second night, the Anteaters hit just .146 (42-24-123) and lost 1-3. Henno paced the squad once again with 13 kills.
No. 1 Long Beach State vs No. 4 UC Irvine
Friday, Apr. 12 | 6:00 PM | Bren Events Center
Live Stats Watch
No. 4 UC Irvine at No. 1 Long Beach State
Saturday, Apr. 13 | 7:00 PM | Walter Pyramid
Live Stats Watch
FIRST SERVE
No. 4 UCI closes out the regular season with a pair of matches against No. 1 Long Beach State. The Anteaters and Beach will meet at the Bren Events Center Friday (Apr. 12) at 6:00 p.m. before heading to the Walter Pyramid Saturday (Apr. 13) for a 7:00 p.m. first serve.
Following Friday's match, UCI will celebrate graduating student-athletes, Connor Campbell, Conner Dahm, Gustavo Gomes, Davis Lau, Cole Power, Akhil Tangutur and Brett Sheward.
STORYLINES
UCI moved up to No. 4 after splitting the season series with No. 4 Hawaii last week.
UC Irvine has 13 wins over ranked opponents including four against Top 5 opponents, three away from the Bren Center (No. 1 GCU, No. 4 Hawaii, No. 5 Stanford twice).
The Anteaters have only played four unranked teams and seen action against the MPSF, Northeast Conference, MIVA and EIVA.
The Anteaters are 17-8 overall with four of the losses coming in five sets, including two versus Top 5 teams.
UCI is 6-2 in the Big West standings, sitting in second place and holding the tie-breaker with Hawaii with a 4-3 games advantage.
LBSU is 22-1 on the year and remains undefeated in Big West action at 8-0.
The Beach is riding a 12-match winning streak.
UCI beat Long Beach State, 3-0, the last time they met in the semifinals of the 2023 Big West Championships held at the Bren Center.
The Anteaters hit .329 (39-12-82), while limiting The Beach to a .157 (33-19-89) mark. Hilir Henno topped the Anteaters with a then-career-high with 22 kills, hitting .471 (22-6-34).
UCI leads the country in kills (13.42) and assists (12.65). The Anteaters rank sixth in digs (9.34) and seventh in hitting percentage (.327).
Hilir Henno leads the country in points per set at 5.50 and is second in kills at 4.73. Henno had a career-high 36 kills in the non-conference match with Hawaii, the second most in the country in 2024.
Setter Brett Sheward is second in assist average with a 10.52 mark.
The Beach is first nationally in blocks (3.315) with Lazar Bouchkov (1.37) and Simon Torwie (1.33) topping the Big West. LBSU is also fifth in hitting percentage (.344) and sixth in aces (1.70).
DEALING ACES
Henno is now eight aces shy of tying the UCI career ace record currently held by Carson Clark at 183 from 2009-12. He has 175 in just 73 career matches.
He already owns the Big West career record as well as the match record with nine versus Princeton.
The outside hitter leads the Big West and is 11th nationally in aces with a .448 mark.
HAWAII REWIND
The first night, the Anteaters swept the Rainbow Warriors, 3-0, behind hitting .425 (45-8-87), the third best offensive performance of the season.
Hilir Henno led all players with 20 kills, hitting .679 (20-1-28), the ninth time he has recorded 20 or more kills times this season.
UCI out-blocked UH, 10-3 behind the strength of middle blocker's Maxim Grigoriev's match-best six block assists.
The second night, the Anteaters hit just .146 (42-24-123) and lost 1-3. Henno paced the squad once again with 13 kills.
Players Mentioned
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L
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MB
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
L
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L
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S
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
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