PRESS CONFERENCE

HONOLULU, Hawaii – Third-seed UC Irvine outlasted sixth-seed CSUN, 3-2 (22-25, 25-18, 16-25, 25-23, 19-17) in the first round of the Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

UCI improves to 21-6 overall and advances to play No. 2 seed Hawaii at 10:00 p.m. PT in the second semifinal Friday.

The Anteaters held off three match points, before an ace down the line by setter Joe Karlous moved UCI in front 18-17. After a CSUN timeout, senior Hilir Henno recorded a kill to end the match. Henno took over in the final set, recording 11 kills, while hitting .474 (11-2-19).

For the match, Henno had a season-high 28 kills, which is tied for second most by a Big West player this season. He totaled nine digs and led UCI with three aces and four total blocks, three solos.  With his three aces he is now six shy of tying Evan Patek's all-time NCAA record of 255.

Freshman middle blocker Micah Goss had a career night offensively with 13 kills, hitting .667 (13-1-18). He added three total blocks and two digs in the victory.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Opposite William D'Arcy posted 16 kills, four digs and two block assists
>Middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev hit .500 (5-1-8) with four digs and a block assist
>Karlous would record his fifth double-double of the season with 53 set assists and team-high 10 digs
>Outside hitter Nolan Flexen had three kills, six digs and an ace
>For the second consecutive match against CSUN, freshman Tim Ennis added a calming force. He ended with two kills and a dig
>Libero Shane Aitken rallied seven digs
>The teams were almost statistically even with UCI hitting .361-.359 and holding slight lead in blocks (7.0-6.0) and digs (43-41). CSUN was slightly better from the service line, 7-5
>Jalen Phillips had a team-best 27 kills for the Matadors who end the season 18-11 overall.

FIRST SET
>CSUN scored the first four points on a pair of kills and a pair of UCI attack errors
>Hilir Henno crushed a ball cross court then added another before Micah Goss had a kill from the middle to close to 3-4
>A 4-1 run put the Matadors up 12-8
>UCI would go on a 5-1 run which featured a solo block, kill and ace by Henno, 14-15
>A service and attack error by CSUN helped UCI tie the set at 18-18
>Back-to-back kills and a UCI attack error gave the Matadors the set, 25-22

SECOND SET
>Kills out of the middle from Maxim Grigoriev and Micah Goss moved UCI out to a 2-0 lead
>Consecutive kills by Goss made it 4-2
>William D'Arcy was in on blocks, one with Grigoriev and one with Goss to go up 7-4
>A block by Goss and Henno was followed by a solo from Henno, 13-8
>Henno used his right hand for a kill to give UCI the 15-9 lead at the media timeout
>A kill by D'Arcy and two Matador attack errors capped an 8-1 run, 18-9
>Henno tapped it to an empty part of the court, 22-14
>A Henno blast gave UCI set point but a service error delayed the winner that came courtesy of D'Arcy, 25-18
>The Anteaters didn't commit an attack error in the set, hitting .536 (15-0-28)

THIRD SET
>Nolan Flexen started the set with an ace
>CSUN would use a kill, ace, block and UCI attack error, to take an 9-6 lead
>A CSUN service and attack error inched UCI to 8-9
>A review changed the momentum helping CSUN to open an 12-9 advantage
>A kill by Goss and an ace by Henno tied the set at 14 all
>The Matadors answered with two kills and ace, forcing an Anteater timeout, 17-14
>Five in a row, including two aces, extended CSUN's lead 19-14
>The Matadors would score the final four points, 25-16

FOURTH SET
>Henno would took control with three kills and a solo block, 5-1
>A kill and ace by Henno stretched the lead to 7-2
>A kill by D'Arcy was followed by a kill from a Grigoriev on a broken play, 16-10
>Two Matador miscues moved UCI to 20-13
>A no-look windmill kill down the line by Henno made it 22-16
>A 6-1 run by CSUN made things interesting 23-22 forcing a UCI timeout
>D'Arcy put the ball away out of the break, 24-22
>Following a kill, D'Arcy knocked it off the block for the winner, 25-23

FIFTH SET
>CSUN used a UCI attack error and an ace to jump out to an early 2-0 lead
>CSUN used three UCI errors to take the 8-5 advantage
>Ennis tracked down a dig then Rigg bashed it off the block, 8-10
>Out of a timeout, tough serving by Grigoriev led to a pair of Henno kills, 10-10
>Teams would battle back-and-forth and UCI would fight off three set points
>A Matador service error, an ace by Joe Karlous and a kill by Henno completed the comeback, 19-17

NOTES
>UCI is 5-1in five set matches this year
>Karlous picked a great time for his fifth ace of the season
>UCI has won six in a row, the longest streak in the Big West