THIS WEEK
No. 3 UC Irvine at No. 4 Hawaii
Friday, Feb. 28 | 9:00 PM PT | SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
Live Stats   Watch

No. 3 UC Irvine at No. 4 Hawaii
Sunday, Mar. 2 | 7:00 PM PT | SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
Live Stats   Watch

FIRST SERVE
No. 3 UC Irvine opens the Big West schedule at No. 4 Hawaii. UCI and UH will play Friday (Feb. 28) at 9:00 p.m. PT and Sunday (Mar. 2) at 7:00 p.m. PT. Both matches will be held at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

STORYLINES
UCI is 10-2 overall and dropped one spot to No. 3 in the rankings.

The Anteaters lost their first two matches of the year to then-No. 3 UCLA last week.

UC Irvine was swept by the Bruins in the first meeting at home, hitting a season-low .077 (20-15-65) to UCLA's .442 (45-11-77).  

Hilir Henno led the Anteaters with a team-best 10 kills, three aces and four digs.

In the second meeting, UCI went up 2-1 before the Bruins took the final two sets. UCLA would commit just one attack error over the final two frames (21-1-29) for the comeback victory.

Henno once again led UCI, posting 21 kills.

Hawaii is 13-1 overall, dropping its lone match to Stanford at home on Feb. 7.

Hawaii captured three of the four Big West weekly awards. 'Eleu Choy was Defensive, Tread Rosenthal was setter and Kristian Titriyski as Freshman of the Week.

The Rainbow Warriors won four matches in North Carolina last week, beating Belmont Abbey (3-0), Catawba College (3-1) and Queens twice (3-0 & 3-1).

The teams each won two matches last season, the last a 3-0 sweep by UCI in the Big West Championship at the Stan Sheriff Center.
 
The Anteaters won the critical second set 36-34, fighting off nine Hawaii set points. The 36-34 score was the highest in a Big West Championship set.

Henno recorded a match-high 24 kills, hitting .511 (24-1-45) with his lone hitting error coming in the third set. He ended with five digs, two block assists and an ace. Fellow countryman Louis Sakanoko led Hawaii with 12 kills.

In the first meeting last year at the OUTRIGGER Invitational, UH defeated UCI, 3-2 despite Henno's career-high. The outside hitter recorded a personal best 36 kills on 68 swings, while hitting .412. He also had three aces.

In the two regular season meetings in Irvine, UCI won the first, 3-0, then Hawaii claimed the second, 3-1.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
The Anteaters are second nationally in aces (2.09), eighth in assists (11.93) and ninth in hitting percentage (.319).

Hilir Henno is fourth in ace average at .674, while middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev is sixth (.558).

Henno is third in the country in points (5.21) and is fourth in kills (4.21). Nolan Flexen is eighth in the country with a 4.02 kill average and is ninth in points at 4.72.
Joe Karlous is 11th in the country with a 10.10 set assist average, while freshman Micah Goss is 10th in blocks per set at 1.19.

HOMETOWN BOY
UCI redshirt freshman Aidan Rigg, who graduated from Punahou, returns home to Hawaii. He has played in 22 sets with 45 set assists, seven digs, three kills and two aces.

FRENCH CONNECTION
UCI's Hilir Henno (Mar. 5, 2023 & Jan. 13, 2024) and UH's Loius Sakanoko (Jan. 12, 2024) have each fired nine aces in a match, sharing the Big West record as well as holding their school's match record.

ON DECK
Following the matches with Hawaii, UCI returns home for a pair of non-conference matches against Pepperdine (Mar. 7) and Sacred Heart (Mar. 8).