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Honolulu, Hawaii – Serving was key in UC Irvine's four-set loss to Long Beach State (23-25, 25-21, 16-25, 15-25) in the championship match of the OUTRIGGER Big West Championship presented by the Hawaiian Islands at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center Saturday.

UCI committed 20 service errors, which is tied for the second most this season by the Anteaters, and watched Long Beach State fire 11 aces. The Beach also dominated the net with an 11.5-3.5 advantage in blocks.

After hitting .485 (16-0-33) in the second set, UCI hit just .049 (12-10-41) over the final two sets, while Long Beach hit at a .428 (23-5-42) clip.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Hilir Henno led the Anteaters with 15 kills
>Outside hitter Akhil Tangutur posted nine kills and eight digs
>Nolan Flexen added five kills and two aces followed by Maxim Grigoriev with four kills, two aces and two block assists
>Libero Cole Power had a team-best 10 digs
>Long Beach State's Clarke Godbold was named Most Outstanding Player, logging 17 kills, five block assists and five aces
>LBSU out-hit UCI .355 to .226

FIRST SET
>Hawaii went on a 6-1 run, which included four kills, an ace and a block to move out to a 8-4 lead
>Two Beach errors helped the Anteaters close within 7-9
>UCI exploded with a 7-1 outburst which included two blocks and an ace by Maxim Grigoriev
>LBSU would hold a 16-15 advantage before UCI used a Beach service error, two kills by Akhil Tangutur and an ace by Hilir Henno to go up 19-16
>Long Beach State answered with the four, two on blocks, to go ahead 20-19
>A kill by William D'Arcy knotted it at 20-20 then Long Beach State scored the next two on a UCI service error and Simon Torwie ace, 22-20
>A kill by Henno would keep UCI in it, 23-24, but a blocking error handed the Beach a 25-23 victory
>UCI hit .188 in the set as Long Beach State had four blocks

SECOND SET
>A bump set from Tangutur from the backrow led to a Henno kill, 2-2
>LBSU would have three consecutive kills to lead 12-8
>A LBSU service error was followed by kills from Henno and Connor Campbell to close to 11-12
>A kill and two Beach attack errors gave UCI its first lead, 14-13
>LBSU answered with a UCI service error, an ace and two kills to regain control, 17-14
>Nolan Flexen came to the rescue with a kill and two aces to tie it at 17-17 then Grigoriev crushed a ball to push UCI in front 18-17
>A kill down the line then one off the block and another off the defense down the tape by Henno turned the tables with a 22-20 advantage for the Anteaters
>Grigoriev stepped back and fired a pair of aces for set point, 24-21
>After a LBSU kill, Henno fittingly ended it with his seventh kill of the set, 25-21
>Both offenses got going in the second stanza. UCI didn't commit an error in the second set, hitting .485 (16-0-33). Long Beach hit .419

THIRD SET
>A couple of Long Beach errors helped the Anteaters to an early 3-1 lead before a 7-1 spurt by the Beach which included three aces by Clarke Godbold, moved LBSU out to a 8-4 lead
>Long Beach's fourth ace of the set forced an Anteater timeout, 13-7
>The Beach would roll to a 25-16 victory behind the strength of six aces, limiting UCI to a .100 (6-4-20) hitting percentage

FOURTH SET
>It was all Long Beach to start the set, 8-3
>The Beach would break it open with six in a row, 15-5, and go on to win 25-15
>UCI hit .000 (6-6-21) compared to Long Beach's .524 (12-1-21)

NOTES
>With an ace, Henno now has 179 for his career, is four shy of Carson Clark's UCI career record of 183
>Power totaled his 10^th double-digit dig performance of the year

UP NEXT
UCI will see if the season continues when the NCAA Selection Show reveals the two at-large bids Sunday at 1:00 PT on NCAA.com.