No. 2 UC Irvine Improves to 10-0 With Sweep Of No. 5 USC

Friday, February 14

Los Angeles, CA

7:00 p.m.

UC Irvine

10-0,0-0Big West

Southern California

9-2,0-0MPSF

Team	1	2	3	Final F
UC Irvine	25	25	25	3
Southern California	18	22	21	0

Photo by: Matt Brown

No. 2 UC Irvine Improves to 10-0 With Sweep Of No. 5 USC

February 14, 2025 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Stacey Shackleford

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – After a marathon match Wednesday, No. 2 UC Irvine made quick work of No. 5 USC in 3-0 sweep (25-18, 25-22, 25-21) at the Galen Center Friday.

UCI once again out-blocked the nation's best blocking team 8-4 and held the best hitting team to just .213 (40-40-94), while the Anteaters hit .379 (43-10-87).

The Anteaters were led by opposite Nolan Flexen who totaled 14 kills and five digs followed by outside hitter Hilir Henno, who knocked down 13 kills, hitting .571 (13-1-21) with three digs and three total blocks.

UCI improves to 10-0, while USC drops to 9-2. The 10 consecutive wins to start the season matches the program-best set in 2003.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Andon Kiriakou added eight kills and five digs
>Middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev had a team-high four total blocks (1 solo) to go with four digs, two kills and one ace
>Setter Joe Karlous posted 39 set assists, four digs and two block assists
>Freshman middle blocker Micah Goss had four kills and three block assists
>USC Jack Deuchar had a match-high 18 kills

FIRST SET
>A 4-0 run by UCI that included a kill by Nolan Flexen, ace by Maxim Grigoriev and two Trojan attack errors gave the Anteaters the 8-5 lead
>Two kills and a block helped USC creep within 13-14 before a kill by Andon Kiriakou got the Anteaters to the media timeout with the 15-13 advantage
>Back-to-back kills from Kiriakou forced a Trojan timeout, 17-14
>Another 4-0 spurt started by two Hilir Henno kills moved the Anteaters out to a 21-15 lead
>A kill by Flexen and an ace by Henno ended the set 25-18

SECOND SET
>The set started with an ace by Kiriakou
>Three Henno kills and two Trojan attack errors pushed UCI out to a 12-8 lead
>USC would close to 15-16 with a kill and an Anteater attack error before Henno pounded one out of the back row, 17-15
>A big dig by Karlous led to a Henno block in the middle of a 3-0 run, 20-16
>USC hung around and an ace tightened the score to 20-22
>A kill by Kiriakou ended the set with a kill off of a Trojan, 25-22
>Anteaters held USC to a .097 hitting percentage in the set

THIRD SET
>UCI started with a 3-1 lead on a cross court kill by Henno and a block by Henno and Grigoriev
>Two kills and UCI attack error moved USC in front 6-5
>A kill by Flexen and a Trojan attack that sailed long to return the favor, 7-6
>The teams would stay close until two Flexen kills gave the Anteaters the 16-14 advantage
>Henno would crush a ball then Karlous and Grigoriev teamed for a block, 19-16
>A Trojan service error and a solo block by Grigoriev forced a Trojan timeout, 21-17
>Kiriakou pounded back-back to kills to seal the match, 25-21

NOTES
>2018 was the last time UCI swept the season series with USC and the last time the Anteaters swept the Trojans, 3-0
>UCI joins Long Beach State and Loyola-Chicago as the only undefeated teams in the country

UP NEXT
UCI will host No. 3 UCLA Wednesday (Feb. 19) at the Bren Events Center. First serve is 6:00 p.m.,