NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – Hilir Henno put away a season-high 26 kills to lead No. 4 UC Irvine to a five-set victory over No. 9 CSUN (25-21, 20-25, 22-25, 25-18, 15-13) in the regular season finale at the Premier America Credit Union Arena.

Henno hit .875 (7-0-8) in the fourth set and had five kills in the fifth set to rally the Anteaters after going down 1-2. For the match, the senior hit .417 (26-6-48) and matched Tim Ennis for the team lead in digs with six.

Ennis came off the bench to steady UCI with a career-high 10 kills, hitting .526 without an error in 19 swings. The freshman outside hitter also had two block assists.

The Anteaters closed out the regular season 20-6 overall and 6-4 in the Big West, while CSUN goes to 18-10 and 3-7.

UCI is the No. 3 seed for The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship. The two teams will meet again as the Anteaters will face the sixth-seeded Matadors Thursday (Apr. 24) at 10:00 p.m. PT

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Opposite William D'Arcy totaled 11 kills and had four digs and four block assists
>Middle blocker Micah Goss had a match-high six total blocks (1 solo) to go with six kills and an ace
>Senior Nolan Flexen pounded eight kills plus added two aces, four digs and three block assists
>Middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev had six kills, three block assists and three digs
>Setter Joe Karlous recorded 46 set assists and three digs
>A trio of Matador players had kills in double-digits led by Lorenzo Bertozzi's 17 kills
>UCI hit .402 to CSUN's .390 and held a 10.5 to 7.5 advantage in blocks
>Both teams had 32 digs, while the Matadors had six aces to UCI's four

FIRST SET
>A kill by Hilir Henno gave UCI a 3-1 lead before the Matadors peeled off four in a row including two aces to take a 5-3 lead
>UCI would closed to 8-9 on a Maxim Grigoriev kill then three in a row by CSUN stretched the lead back to 12-8
>A late rally on a CSUN service error, Henno kill down the line, Grigoriev kill on an overpass and an ace by Micah Goss put the Anteaters at set point 24-20
>After a service error, a kill by Tim Ennis ended the set 25-21
>UCI hit .600 (18-8-58) in the frame

SECOND SET
>After CSUN led 3-1, UCI used a pair of kills by Goss and a block by Goss and William D'Arcy to move the Anteaters in front 4-3
>A 4-1 run by the Matadors including two kills and two UCI errors helped CSUN to a 13-11 lead
>Three UCI errors, one on a block, extended the margin to 17-13
>Three service errors by the Anteaters hindered UCI's comeback as CSUN would go on to win 25-20

THIRD SET
>CSUN made the first move with a 7-2 run to move the Matadors to 15-10 lead
>Back-to-back kills by Henno made a dent, 12-15
>A 3-1 run all on kills by Nolan Flexen helped UCI close to 17-19
>Down 19-21, UCI had points off of a CSUN service and attack error and a kill by Ennis to tie the set at 21s
>CSUN would score the final four points, the set-winner an ace that trickled over the net, 25-22

FOURTH SET
>UCI led 6-4 on a Flexen ace
>A CSUN kill and UCI attack error tied it 6-6
>Kills by Flexen and Henno and a Matador attack error forced a CSUN timeout. After the break Henno had a kill, 10-6
>A CSUN service error and a kill by Henno put the Anteaters at 14-9
>Teams would trade points until consecutive Henno kills and a Matador attack that sailed long gave UCI a 20-13 lead
>A Flexen ace sent the Anteaters to a fifth set, 25-18

FIFTH SET
>A kill and two UCI errors gave CSUN the quick 3-0 lead
>UCI answered with a block by Goss and Flexen, a Matador attack error and kill by Grigoriev to tie the set at 4-4
>Two kills by Henno, the last with his right hand out of the backrow, put UCI up 6-5
>A pair of kills by the Matadors flipped the script, giving CSUN the 8-7 lead
>A kill from the middle and a block helped CSUN to a 10-8 advantage
>Trailing 9-11, UCI had a kill and ace by Henno to tie the set at 11s
>A kill by Flexen thru the block and a block by Ennis and Goss
gave UCI the 13-12 lead
>A Matador service error was followed by a kill from Henno out of the backrow for the win, 15-13

NOTES
>UCI has won five in a row, the longest winning streak by a Big West team
>The Anteaters are 4-1 in five-set matches this year
>With a late ace, Henno has recorded an ace in all but one match this season and is nine shy of tying the NCAA all-time record of 255