HONOLULU, Hawaii – No. 3 UC Irvine suffered a 3-0 setback to No. 4 Hawaii (19-25, 22-25, 20-25) at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center Sunday.

The Anteaters (10-4, 0-2) were led by Hilir Henno's 17 kills. The senior hit .433 (17-4-30) with two aces and three digs.

Hawaii out-blocked UCI, 11-5.5 and out-hit the Anteaters .384-.231.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Middle blockers Micah Goss and Maxim Grigoriev each had five kills with Goss hitting .714 (5-0-7) and recording three aces and three total blocks
>Setter Joe Karlous had a team-high five digs
>Hawaii won their six in a row (15-1, 2-0) and were led by Kristian Titriyski's 19 kills, six digs and four block assists

FIRST SET
>A kill and block by Hawaii helped the Rainbow Warriors to a 5-3 lead
>A kill by Hilir Henno was followed by an ace from Micah Goss to knot the score at 6-6
>Henno would deal an ace to deadlock the set at 9s
>UCI would score four in a row on a UH service error, kills by Henno and Goss and an ace by Nolan Flexen to take a 15-12 lead at the media timeout
>At the media timeout, the two teams combined for just two errors in 34 attacks
>The lead was short lived as Hawaii scored the next three, two on aces by Louis Sakanoko, 15-15
>Out of an Anteater timeout, kills by Goss and Henno and an ace by Goss moved UCI back into the lead, 18-15
>UCI would lead 19-16 before UH exploded on a 7-1 run which included a pair of kills by Kristian Titriyski, catapulted the Rainbow Warriors 23-20   
>UCI tried to rally on a kill by Henno and a triple block by William D'Arcy, Goss and Flexen, 22-23
>Hawaii would score the final two
>UCI would hit .435 but watched Hawaii fire five aces and reject three blocks in the set

SECOND SET
>UH would go up 6-3 on a 5-1 run that included three kills by Sakanoko
>Three more unanswered on a kill, ace and UCI attack error forced a timeout by head coach David Kniffin, 9-4
>A kill by Henno high off hands was followed by three consecutive Hawaii kills, 8-14
>A kill by D'Arcy and a block assist and solo from Goss closed the Anteaters within 15-17
>Hawaii would answer with the next five, two on blocks, 22-15
>One last push saw the Anteaters use a kill by Henno, a block assist by Beck Weber, and Aidan Rigg and an ace by Goss, 19-23
>UH would go on to score the final two points and win 25-19  

THIRD SET
>Hawaii would score seven in a row, including three consecutive blocks to help the Rainbow Warriors out to a 7-1 lead
>UCI used kills by Henno and Grigoriev and a solo block by Grigoriev closed the gap to 15-20
>A Hawaii service error and a Henno kill drew the Anteaters to 20-24 before an Anteater attack error ended the match, 25-20

NOTES
>UCI hasn't lost four in a row since 2023
>Henno has recorded double-figure kills in 13 straight matches

UP NEXT
****VENUE AND TIME CHANGE ****
UCI will host Pepperdine Friday (Mar. 7) and Sacred Heart Saturday (Mar. 8). Both matches will be played at the Bren Events Center at 7:00 p.m.