LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kristian Titriyski delivered a match-high 16 kills, including the decisive point on championship match point, as Hawaii defeated Big West rival UC Irvine 15-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-20 on Monday night to win the NCAA men’s volleyball championship.
After a slow start, Hawaii (30-5) rallied to win three straight sets, securing the program’s third national title and first since 2022. The Rainbow Warriors also set a program record for wins in a season.
UC Irvine (21-9), making its fifth championship appearance, was aiming for its first title since 2013—also at Pauley Pavilion. The sixth-ranked Anteaters earned an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament.
Following a first set where the Rainbow Warriors hit .167 with seven attack errors, they rebounded to hit .481 while committing just eight errors over the final three sets.
Louis Sakanoko served three consecutive aces to give Hawaii an 8-6 lead in the fourth set. The Rainbow Warriors then hit .538 in the closing set with only two attack errors.
Adrien Roure contributed 15 kills, Sakanoko added 12, and setter Tread Rosenthal finished with 44 assists for Hawaii, which has now won six straight meetings between the teams, including a pair of matches in Irvine earlier this season.
Andrej Jokanovic, the Big West freshman of the year, recorded 13 kills for UC Irvine.
This marked the third all-Big West final (2019, 2022, 2026), with the conference producing a national champion for the fifth time since 2018. The Big West has featured at least one finalist in each of the last eight seasons.
