THIS WEEK
No. 5 UC Irvine at No. 8 BYU
Friday, Jan. 23 | 6:00 PM PT | Smith Fieldhouse 
Stats:  byucougars.com
Watch: Big 10+/byutv.org

No. 5 UC Irvine at No. 8 BYU
Saturday, Jan. 24 | 6:00 PM PT | Smith Fieldhouse
Stats: byucougars.com
Watch: Big 10+ / byutv.org

FIRST SERVE
No. 5 UC Irvine remains on the road, traveling to No. 8 BYU for a pair of matches Friday (Jan. 23) and Saturday (Jan. 24). Both matches start at 6:00 p.m. PT

STORYLINES
UC Irvine moved up to No. 5 in the rankings after improving to 5-0 with a 3-0 sweep of No. 18 Princeton in the home opener followed by a 3-1 upset on No.3 Pepperdine on the road last week.

UCI is playing six of their first seven matches away from Irvine.

Entering the week, the Anteaters and Cougars are two of eight teams that are undefeated with two or more wins this season.

This weekend features two of the best blockers in country with UCI's Trevor Clark and BYU's AJ Cottie. Clark ranks 15th in blocks (1.31), while Cottie is seventh (1.46). Clark recorded seven total blocks versus Harvard (three solo), That mark is tied for third most in a match in the country this season.

Over the first five matches, UCI has out-aced its opponents, 36-6.

Freshman Andrej Jokanovic leads the Anteaters with a 3.50 kill average followed by Clark at 2.06 and William D'Arcy at 2.00 kills per set.

Clark leads the Big West in hitting percentage at .604, while Micah Goss is third (.500) and D'Arcy is fourth (.491).

VERSUS THE COUGARS
UCI has won the last four contests with the Cougars, topping BYU twice last year at the Bren Center. The Anteaters won 3-2, the first night and 3-0, the second. In the five-setter, middle blocker Micah Goss had a career-best nine total blocks (1 solo).

UC Irvine trails BYU 25-51 all-time with the Cougars holding a 7-27 advantage at Smith Fieldhouse.

LAST WEEK REWIND
UC Irvine swept No. 18 Princeton at the Bren Events Center. Andrej Jokanovic and Trevor Clark led UCI with nine kills each, a career-best for Clark. Clark also had a match-high four block assists. Middle blocker Micah Goss hit .778 (7-0-9) with two block assists.

UCI held the Tigers to a .059 (22-18-68) hitting mark.

The Anteaters ended the week with a 3-1 upset of then No. 3 Pepperdine on the road.

UCI was out-hit .376 (59-15-117) to .406 (49-10-96) and out-blocked by the Waves 2-8, but timely hitting and serving garnered the win.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING
The Anteaters are third the nation in hitting percentage (.423) and opponents' hitting percentage (.123) and are ranked fourth in aces (2.38), 12^th in kills (12.94) and 14th in assists (11.81).

D'ARCY; JOKANOVIC EARN BIG WEST WEEKLY HONORS
Opposite William D'Arcy claimed Big West Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career, adding to his two Freshman of the Week honors in 2023. Outside hitter Andrej Jokanovic was tabbed Freshman of the Week, his first Big West honor.

D'Arcy, who came off the bench in every set last week, posted a season-high 19 kills to lead the Anteaters to the upset Pepperdine. He took over the match twice, recording UCI's final three kills in a 25-23 set one win then after UCI trailed by as many as nine, he controlled the critical second set, scoring five points in the final 10-3 run to win 26-24. In that second set with UCI trailing 16-21, D'Arcy scored four in a row with two kills and two aces to narrow the gap to one then ended the set with the winning kill. It was his first double-figure kill match of the season, tying for the second most in his career. The opposite, who hit .630, ended the match against the Waves with three aces and a season-high five digs. He started the week, hitting .600 (3-0-5) against Princeton, adding two block assists against the Tigers. For the week, the senior averaged 3.14 kills, 3.71 points and 0.71 digs.

Jokanovic continued to shine, averaging 3.71 kills, 1.00 digs and 4.07 points per set last week. He led the Anteaters with nine kills versus Princeton, adding an ace and a dig. In the win over the Waves, the freshman had a career-high 17 kills plus six digs and an ace. The outside hitter has led the Anteaters in kills in four of the first five matches. 

SETTING CREW
UCI enlists the services of four setters in most matches. Redshirt sophomore Aidan Rigg leads the crew  with a 4.90 set assist average. Rigg had a season-high 21 set assists versus the Waves. Redshirt freshman Cameron Kosty is averaging 3.42 set assists and 1.17 kills, while redshirt junior Aidan Schulten is averaging 3.58 set assists and redshirt freshman Micah Tumas is averaging 2.91 set assists.

60TH FLASHBACK
As UC Irvine is celebrating the University's 60th anniversary, one of its top moments happened in Smith Fieldhouse.

The second of four national championships by men's volleyball was won in 2009 in Smith Fieldhouse. The Anteaters beat USC in five after trailing 1-2 in the match and 6-8 in the final set. The Anteaters recorded 20.5 blocks that night including one to give UCI a 12-10 lead late in the fifth.

Setter Ryan Ammerman was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after recording a career-high 13 total blocks, 55 set assists and tied his career-high with six kills. Taylor Wilson and Carson Clark were named to the All-Tournament team after recording 21 and 15 kills, respectively.

UCI beat BYU, 3-0 for its fourth national title in 2013 at Pauley Pavilion.