LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kristian Titriyski totaled a match-high 16 kills, the last coming on championship point, and Hawaii beat Big West Conference rival UC Irvine 15-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-20 on Monday night to claim the NCAA men's volleyball championship.
Hawaii (30-5) won three straight sets after a slow start to capture the third national championship in program history and first since 2022. The Rainbow Warriors also set a program record for victories in a season.
UC Irvine (21-9), making its fifth appearance in the title match, was seeking its first championship since 2013 — also at Pauley Pavilion. The sixth-ranked Anteaters received an at-large bid into the NCAA championship.
After a .167 showing with seven attack errors in the opening set, the Rainbow Warriors hit .481 while committing just eight errors the rest of the way.
Louis Sakanoko landed three consecutive aces to give Hawaii an 8-6 lead in the fourth set. Then the Rainbow Warriors hit .538 in the final frame with only two attack errors.
Adrien Roure finished with 15 kills, Sakanoko added 12, and setter Tread Rosenthal had 44 assists for Hawaii, which has won sixth straight outings between the teams — including a pair of matches in Irvine earlier this season.
Andrej Jokanovic, the Big West freshman of the year, had 13 kills for UC Irvine.
It was the third all-Big West finale (2019, 2022, 2026), with the conference securing a national champion for the fifth time since 2018. The Big West has had at least one finalist for eight consecutive seasons.
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
San Mateo Bonsai Club - Bonsai Show Read moreSan Mateo Bonsai Club - Bonsai Show
Join New York Times bestselling author Caroline Paul for a lively discussion of her book Tou… Read moreBook Club with Author Caroline Paul
Dirk van Ulden said:
Another Biden era refugee? Likely from an environment where robbery and mayhem are par for the course. Thank you, open border liberals!
gorillacoder said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.