IRVINE, Calif. – No. 2 UC Irvine outlasted No. 5 BYU 3-2 (25-17, 21-25, 25-23, 24-26, 15-12) in the Anteaters' home opener at the Bren Events Center.

Outside hitter Nolan Flexen led the Anteaters with a career-high 26 kills, hitting .444 (26-6-45). He also added nine digs and five block assists.

UCI had a season-high 12.5 blocks, led by freshman Micah Goss' career-best nine total blocks (1 solo) to go with his career-high eight kills.

Senior Hilir Henno recorded his first double-double of the year with a season-high 17 kills and 10 digs. He tied his career-best with six total blocks (1 solo) and fired a match-best four aces.

The second-ranked Anteaters improve to 4-0 and hand BYU its first loss of the season, 6-1.

HEAD COACH DAVID KNIFFIN SAID:
"I'm encouraged and not surprised that we played consistently how we have been practicing and in our early matches. I'm excited that we have a team that's reliable and that's a good foundation to build on."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Setter Joe Karlous had a season-high 53 set assists and 12 digs
>Middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev tied his season-high with eight kills
>Freshman outside hitter Tim Ennis played in the final two sets, totaling two kills, two digs an ace and a block assist
>BYU was led by Keoni Thiim's 18 kills, four aces and seven digs. Teilon-Jonathan Tufuga ignited the Cougars late and finished with 15 kills
>Each team had seven aces with UCI holding the advantage in hitting percentage (.324-.234), blocks (12.5-5.5) and digs (51-41)

FIRST SET
>UC Irvine scored eight in a row to break open the set, 9-1. The Anteaters used kills by Hilir Henno, Nolan Flexen and six Cougar errors, three on blocks that included Micah Goss
>Setter Joe Karlous would hammer a ball straight down to give UCI the 14-7 advantage
>Flexen ended the set with a kill, 25-17
>UCI's block was dominant behind Goss' five block assists

SECOND SET
>A 4-1 run that saw two UCI errors and two BYU kills put the Cougars up 11-7
>The Anteaters couldn't string more than two points together to catch BYU who would go on to win, 25-21
>Both teams were efficient offensively with BYU hitting .464 and UCI .448

THIRD SET
>A BYU service error was followed by a kill by Flexen, 5-3
>The Cougars would score three in a row to move in front of the Anteaters at 8-7
>The Anteaters would sneak ahead on a Cougar ball in the net and a kill by Maxim Grigoriev, 11-9
>Andon Kiriakou would crush a ball to send the teams to the media timeout then Grigoriev would slam an overpass to the floor on the point out of the break, 16-13
>BYU would close to 18-17 before an Cougar service error was followed by an ace from Grigoriev, block by Henno, Goss and Karlous and a kill by Henno, 22-17
>BYU would score four in a row, all UCI errors to close within 21-22
>A pair of kills by Goss in the middle put UCI at set point, 24-21
>Following a BYU point, Flexen put down the winner from the right side, 25-23

FOURTH SET
>BYU jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead behind the serving of Keoni Thiim
>Henno would have a huge solo block to get UCI within 3-6
>A kill by Henno and a block by Flexen and Goss closed the gap to 5-7
>After a kill by Henno, Tim Ennis stepped to the service line and UCI scored four straight, one an ace, one a kill by Flexen and one a block by Henno and Grigoriev to move UCI in front 13-10
>BYU responded with the next three to tie the set at 13s
>Tied at 15 all, a Cougar error was followed by consecutive aces from Henno forcing a BYU timeout, 18-15
>Out of the break a long rally was ended by a kill from Henno out of the backrow on the second contact, 19-15
>Three in a row put BYU back in the set, 19-20
>A Cougar service error was followed by a kill from Ennis, 22-19
>A nice hustle play led to a BYU kill and started a 3-0 run that tied the set 22 all
>Three consecutive kills by Teilon-Jonathan Tufuga gave BYU the 26-24 victory

FIFTH SET
>BYU carried over the momentum scoring the first four points
>Flexen would stretch for a left-handed tip over then UCI would use an ace by Henno and a Cougar attack that sailed long to tie the set at 6-6
>The teams would battle point for point until the Anteaters scored the final four on two kills from Flexen another by Henno and a solo block by Goss, 15-12
 
NOTES
>With four aces, Henno ups his UCI career-leading total to 195
>Libero Shane Aitken popped up a career-best seven digs

UP NEXT
The two teams will tangle again Friday (Jan. 24) starting at 6:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.