THIS WEEK
The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship

No. 6 CSUN vs No. 3 UC Irvine
Thursday, Apr. 24 | 10:00 PM PT | SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center

Tournament Central  

FIRST SERVE
No.3 seed UC Irvine will face No. 6 seed CSUN in the first round of The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship Thursday (Apr. 24) at 10:00 p.m. PT at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, Hawai'i.

The winner advances to face No. 2 Hawaii on Friday (Apr. 25) at 10:00 p.m. PT

STORYLINES
UC Irvine is 20-6 overall and finished with a 6-4 Big West record for third place.

It is the 12^th time UCI has recorded 20 or more wins in program history.

The Anteaters are riding a five-match winning streak, the longest in the Big West.

UCI stayed at No. 4 in the national rankings.

The Anteaters are 8-4 on the road and 4-0 on neutral courts in 2025.

UC Irvine will be playing CSUN for the third time in eight days.

CSUN, who is ninth nationally, is 18-10 overall and finished in a three-way tie for fourth at 3-7 but due to a tiebreaker ended up being the No. 6 seed.

VERSUS THE MATADORS ROUND 1&2
UCI beat the Matadors 3-0 in Irvine and 3-2 in Northridge to end the regular season.

At the Bren Center, Hilir Henno led all players with 20 kills and five aces. UCI out-hit the Matadors hit .444 to .174 and held a 12-1 ace advantage.

In Northridge, the Anteaters had to battle back from a 1-2 deficit to win in five sets.

Henno had a season-high 26 kills and hit .417 (26-6-48). Freshman Tim Ennis came off the bench to spark UCI with a career-best 10 kills in 19 attempts without an error.

Henno hit .875 (7-0-8) in the fourth set and had five kills in the fifth set to rally the Anteaters.

CHAMPIONSHIP LOWDOWN
UCI and CSUN have met once before at the Championship with the third-seeded Anteaters beating the sixth-seeded Matadors 3-0 in 2023 at the Bren Events Center.

The Anteaters have advanced to the championship match the last two years, falling to Long Beach State 1-3 last season after a 3-0 win over host Hawaii in a semifinal.
UCI is 6-6 all-time at the Big West Championship.

Before the Big West sponsored volleyball in 2018, the Anteaters won a conference tournament three times, capturing the MPSF championship title in 2007, 2012 and 2015.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING
The Anteaters are ranked third nationally in aces (2.07) and sixth in hitting percentage (.344), 12th in assists (11.69), and 13th in kills (12.50) in the country.

Individually, Hilir Henno is second in points (5.46), kills (4.44) and aces (0.766) nationally.

Middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev is ninth in aces at .494.

Opposite William D'Arcy is 15th in the country in hitting percentage with a .386 mark.

HAPPY TO HAVE HENNO
Among all current Division I players, Hilir Henno is the career leader in aces with 246 and is second in kills (1,579) and total attempts (3,238). He is sixth in sets played with 389.

The senior is nine aces shy of tying the NCAA all-time ace record of 255 held by UC Santa Barbara Evan Patek.

The 2024 AVCA National Player of the Year had his career-high 36 kills at the Stan Sheriff Center versus Hawaii last season in a non-conference match-up.

MR. D'ARCY
Opposite William D'Arcy has started the last 14 matches and has averaged 2.83 kills and 1.48, while hitting .392 in that span.

For the season, he is averaging 2.15 kills and 1.07 digs. He is fourth in the Big West in hitting percentage (.386).

He had a career-high 21 kills in the win at UCSB. In the upset of No. 1 Long Beach State he hit .692 (9-0-13).

FLEXEN HIS MUSCLE
Outside hitter Nolan Flexen ranks seventh in the Big West in kills (3.12) and sixth in points (3.81). The outside hitter is 10th in hitting percentage among Big West players (.301) and 14^th in blocks (0.77). He also averages 1.10 digs and 0.28 aces.

He was named AVCA National Player of the Week (Feb. 18) and Big West Offensive Player of the Week twice (Jan. 27, 2025 & Feb. 17, 2025).

The senior led UCI to a win over USC with a career-high 27 kills and 12 digs. His 27 kills are third most in the Big West this year.

BIG WEST PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
A trio of Anteaters picked up Big West Players of the Week to start the week.

Hilir Henno was named Offensive Player of the Week, while Joe Karlous was Setter of the Week and Micah Goss was Defensive Player of the Week.

Henno averaged 5.75 kills, 6.75 points, 0.75 aces and 1.00 digs over the two wins against CSUN. It is the senior's fifth Offensive weekly honor this season.

Karlous guided UCI to a .444 hitting percentage on Senior Night in Irvine then a .402 night in the season finale. It is the third time this season Karlous has been named Setter of the Week.

Goss led all players at the net, recording a match-best four blocks in Irvine then bested all players with six total blocks (1 solo) in Northridge. Goss has been the Defensive honoree twice and the Freshman of the Week once.

Other award winners this season are Nolan Flexen as Offensive Player of the Week twice and Maxim Grigoriev and Shane Aitken as Defensive.

AT THE NET
UCI has out-blocked opponents 20 times this season, including the last five outings.

UCI has posted double-digit blocks five times in 2025, including a season-high 17.5 blocks in a win over USC at home.

Middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev had a team-high 12 total blocks (two solo) in that win over the Trojans. The 12 blocks are second most in the country and tops the Big West this season.

Freshman Micah Goss leads the Anteaters with a 1.01 blocking average which is fifth among Big West players. Grigoriev is seventh with a 0.87 mark.

JOE SHOW
Graduate student Joe Karlous is fifth in the Big West in set assists (9.59) and digs (1.67).

He dished a career-high 73 set assists versus USC, the most in the country this season and a UCI and Big West record.

He has four double-doubles, including 16 digs versus BYU, the second most in the Big West this season

TEAM EFFORT
Several players have been key off the bench this season.

Local Punahou grad Aidan Rigg keyed the UCI comeback at UC Santa Barbara, hitting 1.000 with a career-best five kills in five swings to go with 24 set assists and two block assists.

Freshman Tim Ennis has played in 30 sets averaging 1.33 kills and 1.30 digs. He had a career-best 10 kills in teh season finale.

Middle blocker Beck Weber has hit 8-0-8 over the last two matches he has played in.