LONG BEACH, Calif. – No. 5 UC Irvine took down No. 1 Long Beach State in three sets (27-25, 25-19, 25-19) in front of 4,676 fans in a Black & Blue Rivalry match at the Walter Pyramid Friday.

The Anteaters dominated the match, hitting .472 (29-4-53) and out-blocking the nation's leader 7.5-0. UCI also won the service line with eight aces to LBSU's four. The Beach helped by committing 22 service errors.

The Anteaters have won five straight and are 15-4 overall and 1-2 in the Big West. UCI hands The Beach their first loss of the season, going 20-1 and 2-1 in the Big West.

Opposite William D'Arcy was impressive hitting .692 with nine kills and no errors on 13 swings. He also added three digs and two blocks.

Outside hitter Hilir Henno matched D'Arcy with a team-best nine kills and totaled three aces and a team-high six digs.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Setter Joe Karlous was masterful, leading the Anteaters to their third highest hitting percentage of the year. He had 26 set assists, two digs and a block assist
>Outside hitter Nolan Flexen totaled six kills and a team-best five block assists
>Middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev was a perfect 4-0-4 in attacks, while adding three block assists and an ace
>Middle blocker Micah Goss logged three aces and three total blocks
>Libero Shane Aitken posted five digs
>Long Beach State hit .274 (41-18-84) and were led by Sklyer Varga's 13 kills

FIRST SET
>LBSU would start with a pair of aces before Hilir Henno powered a ball high off hands for a kill, 1-2
>A kill by William D'Arcy and LBSU attack error tied it at 7-7
>The Beach answered with two kills, 9-7
>A Henno dig on an overpass attempt led to a kill by Nolan Flexen, 10-11
>Two Beach errors, one service and one attacking, plus a triple block by Flexen, D'Arcy and Maxim Grigoriev and a kill by Grigoriev on an overpass moved UCI in front 17-15
>Grigoriev would continue to make an impact with an ace to force another LBSU timeout, 19-16
>A UCI service error and two Beach kills tied the score at 20 all
>Teams would trade points until The Beach had a pair of kills by Skyler Varga for set point, 24-23
>A kill by Grigoriev and an ace by Henno gave UCI set point 25-24 only to watch a service error knot the score again at 25-25
>A kill by Flexen was followed by block by Flexen and Micah Goss for the 27-25 win
>UCI hit .632 and committed their only error at 21-21
>UCI took advantage of eight Beach service errors

SECOND SET
>LBSU started with the early 3-1 lead
>UCI would go on a 7-1 run which included, a kill by Flexen and a block by Goss and Joe Karlous and five LBSU miscues, 9-5
>Scrappy defense led to a kill by Flexen, then a Beach attack error and an ace by Goss forced a Beach timeout, 13-6
>Three in a row by Long Beach narrowed the lead to 14-11
>A triple block courtesy of Flexen, Grigoriev and D'Arcy and Beach attacker over the line made it 17-13
>Henno would cut the ball for a kill then Goss fired consecutive aces, 22-16
>LBSU rallied winning the next three points (19-22) until a service error stopped the momentum
>A kill by Henno was followed by a Beach attack that sailed wide for the set, 25-19

THIRD SET
>A 4-0 start for UCI used a Long Beach service and attack error, Henno ace and a Grigoriev solo block
>Another Beach service error was followed by a Grigoriev smash from the middle, 10-6
>A 3-0 spurt that had two LBSU errors and a Henno ace that land softly over the net, 13-7
>D'Arcy crushed a ball cross court for a kill, Goss had a solo block  then and D'Arcy had an ace to extend the lead to 18-9
>UCI would lead 20-11 before the Beach cut into the lead with a 4-1 run, 21-16
>D'Arcy would have two kills, the last a two-hand slam on the overpass for set point, 24-17
>After a two-point delay, Henno had the match-winner, 25-19

NOTES
>It is the second consecutive year UCI has taken down a No. 1 team
>It is UCI's first win at the Pyramid since Apr. 3, 2015

UP NEXT
The two teams will meet again tomorrow at the Bren Events Center. First serve is 6:00 p.m. Tickets