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LONG BEACH, Calif. – Outside hitter Hilir Henno led fourth-seeded UC Irvine to a 3-0 sweep of fifth-seed Penn State (26-24, 25-16, 25-19) in the opening round of the NCAA Championship at the Walter Pyramid Tuesday.

Henno, the Big West Player of the Year, posted a match-best 15 kills and five total blocks (1 solo), tying his season-high at the net.

UCI improves to 20-10 overall and advances to a semifinal showdown with top-seed UCLA Thursday (May 1) at 3:30 p.m.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Opposite William D'Arcy had eight kills
>Outside hitter Akhil Tangutur added seven kills, five digs and an ace
>Middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev hit .556 (5-0-9) with four total blocks (1 solo)
>Setter Brett Sheward totaled 32 set assists, eight digs, four block assists and an ace
>Middle blocker Connor Campbell had a solo block and three assists to go with four kills
>The Anteaters out-hit (.284-.188) and out-blocked (10-6) Penn State
>John Kerr led the Nittany Lions with 14 kills
>Penn State helped UCI with 15 service errors

FIRST SET
>Penn State jumped out to the early 7-4 lead with three in a row, two kills and a UCI attack error
>The Anteaters would chip away and tie the set at 13-13 on kills by Hilir Henno and a Penn State attack that sailed long
>Following a Penn State service error, Conner Dahm stepped behind the service line and UCI rattled off three straight points, a kill by Maxim Grigoriev and two Nittany Lion attack errors, 18-16
>A Penn State service was followed by a William D'Arcy kill on a broken play, 22-20
>Henno would crush a kill to give UCI a 23-21 advantage then again 24-22
>An Anteater attack and service error helped keep Penn State alive 24-all
>UCI answered with  back-to-back kills by Akhil Tangutur, the set winner a soft tip over the block, 26-24
>Tangutur led UCI with five kills, hitting .667

SECOND SET
>An 8-1 run by the Anteaters, which included four kills by Henno plus one by Grigoriev,  an ace by Brett Sheward and two blocks pushed UCI out to an 8-2 lead
>A block by Grigoriev and Sheward made it 13-7
>Nittany Lion service and attack errors along with a Henno blast from the backrow forced a PSU timeout, 19-12
>Out of the break, Grigoriev had a solo block, 20-12
>A kill and ace by Tangutur and a Nittany Lion attack wide moved the Anteaters to set point, 24-14
>Penn State would score the next two to delay the set-winner, a cross-court kill by Henno, 25-16

THIRD SET
>A pair of Henno kills and one from Campbell in the middle kicked off the set, 3-0
>Another Campbell kill made it 5-1
>Sheward would swing off an overpass and record the kill, 9-4
>Four kills and two blocks by Penn State in a 6-1 run knotted the set at 10-10
>Penn State followed with three errors, the last a block by UCI, putting the Anteaters back in control 13-10
>A Penn State service error, a block by Campbell and Henno and a kill by D'Arcy increased the lead to 16-12
>A Henno ace extended the advantage to 18-13
>The Nittany Lions made a move with three unanswered to close to 16-18
>Kills by Grigoriev and Henno and a triple block by Grigoriev, Henno and Sheward, 23-18
>Following a PSU kill, UCI used a kill by Henno and a bad set by the Nittany Lions to end the match, 25-19

NOTES
>UCI improved to 3-1 against the Nittany Lions in NCAA action, winning the last three
>Henno is now three aces shy of tying the UCI career record held by Carson Clark (183)
>It is the sixth time this season Henno has recorded five total blocks
>UCI advances to the semifinals for the first time since winning the championship in 2013