No. 2 UC Irvine Can't Hold Off No. 3 UCLA In 3-2 Loss

Saturday, February 22

Los Angeles, CA

5:00 p.m.

UC Irvine

10-2,0-0Big West

UCLA

8-3,0-0MPSF

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
UC Irvine	25	21	25	14	10	2
UCLA	21	25	20	25	15	3

No. 2 UC Irvine Can't Hold Off No. 3 UCLA In 3-2 Loss

February 22, 2025 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Stacey Shackleford

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – No. 2 UC Irvine went up 2-1 but could not hold off No. 3 UCLA in the final two sets in a 3-2 loss at Pauley Pavilion Saturday.

UCLA would commit just one attack error over the final two frames (21-1-29) to win 21-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-14, 15-10.

The Bruins held a 13-3 advantage in aces. The 13 aces are the most aces against UCI this season and the Anteaters' three are tied for the season-low.

Outside hitter Hilir Henno led the Anteater offense with 21 kills followed by opposite Nolan Flexen with 15 kills, four total blocks and four digs.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Freshman Micah Goss had a match-high seven total blocks (1 solo) to go with six kills and an ace
>Middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev totaled six kills, an ace and a solo block
>Libero Shane Aitken had a match-high eight digs
>Setter Joe Karlous tallied 42 set assists, three digs and two block assists
>UCI hit .307 and out-blocked the Bruins 9-8
>The Bruins hit .406 for the match, led by Cameron Thorne's 17 kills, hitting .842. He had six total blocks and three aces

FIRST SET
>UCI would go on a 4-1 run started by kills from Micah Goss and Maxim Grigoriev to give the Anteaters a slight 7-5
>The lead was short-lived as UCLA tied the set at 7-7 and the teams would remain close never more than two points apart until two kills by Hilir Henno and a block by Goss and Joe Karlous gave the Anteaters a 20-16 advantage
>The Bruins once again answered, scoring four unanswered, three on UCI errors to tied it up at 20s
>UCI would score the final four points of the set, a Bruin service error, two blocks by Goss and Flexen and a kill by Henno to win the set 25-21

SECOND SET
>UCI would use a 5-1 spurt to go up 13-10. Two kills by Henno and a solo by Goss highlighted the scoring
>UCLA would catch at 13-13 then a 4-1 run by the Bruins, three on UCI gave miscues, gave UCLA a 17-15 cushion
>A kill by William D'Arcy and a bad set by UCLA kept the Anteaters alive, 21-24 until a kill ended the set for a 25-21 UCLA victory

THIRD SET
>UCI started with a 4-1 lead on two kills by Flexen, one by Henno and and a block by Henno and Goss
>Two more Flexen kills made it 8-4
>UCLA would close to 19-20 before UCI closed the game out-scoring the Bruins 5-1, the final two kills by Grigoriev and Andon Kiriakou, 25-20

FOURTH SET
>A pair of David Ido aces helped UCLA open a 7-3 lead
>Consecutive kills, ace and a block increased the gap to 15-6
>The Bruins would roll to a 25-14 win and force a fifth set

FIFTH SET
>UCLA jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead
>Goss would try to rally the Anteaters with a kill and block assist, closing within 5-6
>UCLA would move out to an 11-6 lead on the strength of two kills and two aces
>UCI would run out of time and the teams would side-out, giving UCLA a 15-10 win

NOTES
>UCI's 17 service errors are the second most this year
>UCI drops its first five-set match this season

UP NEXT
UCI starts the Big West schedule for a pair of matches at Hawaii starting on Feb. 28.