IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine took down No. 1 Long Beach State in a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-21, 25-21) on Senior Night at the Bren Events Center in front of 2,364 fans.

It is the second time UCI has toppled a No. 1 team this season (GCU on Mar. 7) and fifth win over a Top 5 team in 2024.

The Anteaters improve to 18-8 overall and go to 7-2 in the Big West standings, now just one game behind Long Beach State who suffered their first league loss, 8-1. The Beach is 22-2 overall, snapping a 12-match winning streak with the loss.

The UCI offense was dominant once again, hitting .397 (42-11-78), powered by Hilir Henno's match-best 14 kills and seven digs. The junior recorded two aces and is now six shy of tying the UCI career record of 183.  

Opposite William D'Arcy hit a career-high .750 with 13 kills in 16 attempts and just one error.   He tied his career-high with three block assists.

HEAD COACH DAVID KNIFFIN SAID
"Tonight was not a complicated volleyball match. Good clean, simple, high level volleyball. Brett (Sheward) did a good job of keeping it simple and let the hitters be hitters. The hitters did a good job of responding to some great defensive plays and nice blocking moves by a good team and not letting anything rattle them. We came out serving really tough which certainly helps. We kept Long Beach out of their normal rhythm. There were lots of long pauses tonight and I never felt like we were disrupted as the match went on."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev hit .636 (8-1-11) and had a match-high three aces
>Outside hitter Nolan Flexen pitched in five kills and three block assists
>Setter Brett Sheward logged 39 set assists, five digs and three block assists
>Middle blocker Connor Campbell joined Sheward and D'Arcy with a team-best three block assists
>The Anteaters held a 6-3 advantage in aces and 24-17 in digs
>Long Beach State hit .273 (33-12-77) and held a slight 7-6 edge in blocks
>Sotiris Siapanis topped The Beach with nine kills

FIRST SET
>It was all UCI to start the match jumping out to a 5-0 lead on a kill by Maxim Grigoriev, two aces by Hilir Henno, a LBSU ball-handling error and triple block by Nolan Flexen, Grigoriev and William D'Arcy
>Another triple block, this one by Connor Campbell, Flexen and D'Arcy, extended the lead to 7-2
>Long Beach came alive with three in a row, a pair of kills and ace by Skyler Varga to close within 7-5
>UCI broke open the set with a 8-0 run highlighted by a kill and two aces by Grigoriev and two kills by Flexen, extending the lead to 19-9
>Henno put away the set winner, 25-17

SECOND SET
>A pair of Long Beach kills gave The Beach 11-9 separation, but two back-to-back LBSU errors helped the Anteaters tie it at 13-13
>LBSU led 17-16 before a block by D'Arcy, Campbell and Flexen ignited a 7-2 run which saw an ace by D'Arcy, another block by Campbell, Henno and Sheward and two Henno kills to push UCI in front 23-19
>A kill by Henno was followed by a great rally that was ended when D'Arcy banged it off the block for the set-winner, 25-21

THIRD SET
>Kills by Flexen and Henno gave UCI a 6-3 lead
>A LBSU service and attack error helped UCI move it to 16-12
>A well-timed challenge by head coach David Kniffin reversed a call, showing a D'Arcy kill graze the block's fingertips which was then followed by an ace from Grigoriev, 19-15
>The Beach would creep to 22-20 on a kill and UCI attack error
>Grigoriev rolled it over in the front corner on second contact forcing a final Long Beach timeout, 24-20
>A Beach kill delayed the match-winner by Henno, 25-21

NOTES
>UCI has won two in a row versus The Beach
>UCI celebrated Connor Campbell, Conner Dahm, Gustavo Gomes, Davis Lau, Cole Power, Brett Sheward and Akhil Tangutur who were playing in their final home match

UP NEXT
UCI travels to Long Beach State for the regular season finale tomorrow. First serve from the Walter Pyramid is slated for 7:00 p.m.