For the third straight season, defending national champion Long Beach State was voted atop the 2026 Big West Men’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll. The Beach are coming off a Big West regular-season championship and a third national title since men’s volleyball became a conference-sponsored sport in 2018.
The Beach earned top billing with four first-place votes and 24 total points in the voting, edging out 2025 Big West champions and National Collegiate Championship semifinalists, Hawai’i. The Rainbow Warriors are just two points back with 22 total points and the remaining two first-place votes in the polling of the league’s six head coaches.
Long Beach State (IN 2025: 30-3, 8-2 BW) won their third national collegiate trophy in The Big West era in May, sweeping through defending champion UCLA to hoist the trophy. The win marked the Beach’s fourth overall title, also claiming distinction in 1991. Hall of Fame head coach Alan Knipe retired in December, handing the reigns over to LBSU alumnus Nick MacRae before the start of the 2026 campaign. Opening the year ranked third in the national polling, the Beach see two student-athletes on the Preseason Coaches’ Team: Skyler Varga and Alex Kandev.
Varga, a redshirt senior opposite hitter, is the lone senior on the preseason listings. The native of Muenster, Saskatchewan, and 2025 AVCA All-American averaged 2.73 kills per set while hitting an effective .368 last season to go along with 33 aces from the service line. Kandev, a sophomore outside hitter from Sofia, Bulgaria, led LBSU is points per set during the freshman campaign contributing an average of 3.87 for the national champions. Kandev put down 210 total kills in 65 sets on the court.
Defending Big West champions Hawai’i (IN 2025: 28-6, 7-3 BW) enter the season ranked second, both nationally and in the league polling. The Rainbow Warriors enjoy three players on the preseason team listings in junior setter Tread Rosenthal and sophomore scoring duo of Adrien Roure and Kristian Titriyski. All three student-athletes are coming off of All-American seasons with Rosenthal and Roure earning first-team acclaim with Titriyski on the second team.
Hailing from Austin, Texas, Rosenthal assisted on 10.50 plays per set to lead The Big West last year, good for fourth in national collegiate volleyball. Roure, a Lyon, France, native, hit .327 in 2025 with 3.10 kills and 3.65 points per set from the outside position. Titriyski closed a first year of collegiate volleyball as UH’s offensive leader with 4.24 kills and 5.05 points per set on .325 hitting to go along with 34 service aces for the national semifinalists. Titriyski marks a second native of Sofia, Bulgaria on the seven-member preseason team, joining LBSU’s Kandev.
UC Irvine (IN 2025: 21-7, 6-4 BW), hosts of The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2026 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, occupy third in the polling with 17 total points. The Anteaters open the year ranked sixth in the AVCA preseason listings. UCI will have to replace the services of 2024 AVCA and Big West Player of the Year and 2025 AVCA Distinction of Excellence Award winner, Hilir Henno. The Anteaters will rely on a youthful squad with just one senior and four juniors on the 18-player roster.
A three-way tie for fourth between CSUN, UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara rounds out the polling with the Matadors, Tritons and Gauchos knotted at nine points apiece. All three squads find themselves in the AVCA’s preseason poll with UC San Diego opening in 10th, followed closely behind by CSUN in 11th. UCSB opens in 17th nationally.
CSUN opposite hitter Jalen Phillips makes an appearance on the preseason team after 2025’s All-American season. The redshirt junior from Anaheim, Calif., paced the Matadors with 4.22 kills and 4.76 points per set, both figures second in The Big West and seventh in national collegiate volleyball, only trailing UCI’s Henno in the league statistics.
UCSB redshirt sophomore George Bruening rounds out the seven-player preseason team. The All-Big West honorable mention outside hitter from Newport Beach, Calif., posted 2.97 kills and 1.10 digs per set playing in 18 matches in 2025.
Each head coach will be joined by selected student-athletes in the 2026 Big West Men’s Volleyball Preview, presented by the Hawaiian Islands premiering on nationally on ESPN+ Tuesday, Dec. 30 at noon PT/10 a.m. HT. The duo of Rob Espero and The Big West’s Chloe Clark provide expert insight and analysis while discussing the upcoming season across the powerhouse Big West. Fans can catch extended interviews of the coach/player combos on The Big West’s YouTube channel as the show airs live on ESPN+.
The 2026 season gets underway on Friday, Jan. 2, with Hawai’i hitting the taraflex in the season-opening weekend. Long Beach State and UC San Diego are also taking to the court in exhibition action in the North American Challenge from LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid before beginning the season in earnest at home the following week. Then, host UC Santa Barbara is joined by UC Irvine and CSUN in the field of the annual Asics Invitational beginning on Jan. 8 to open their 2025 slate.
The first date of the 10-match, double-round-robin Big West slate is set for Tuesday, March 3, as the Tritons host the Matadors to begin league play. UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center is home of The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2026 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship on April 23-25. All six conference members will head to Irvine to vie for The Big West’s automatic berth into the first year of a 12-team national postseaon bracket. The complete upcoming 2026 Big West men's volleyball schedule can be found here >>>
Taking home the first four national championships when The Big West began sponsoring men’s volleyball in 2018 and a fifth in 2025, the league is looking to continue its strength on the national stage in 2026. With the Beach and the ’Bows claiming back-to-back national collegiate titles around the pandemic-shortened 2024 season and LBSU reigning supreme in the latest edition, The Big West has enjoyed at least one national finalist in each of the last seven seasons.
| 2026 Big West Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll |
| Rank |
Institution |
Points |
| 1. |
Long Beach State |
24 (4) |
| 2. |
Hawai’i |
22 (2) |
| 3. |
UC Irvine |
17 |
| T-4. |
CSUN |
9 |
|
UC San Diego |
9 |
|
UC Santa Barbara |
9 |
First-place votes in parentheses
| 2026 Big West Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Team |
|
|
| Student-Athlete |
Year |
Position |
Institution |
Hometown |
| George Bruening |
R-So. |
Outside Hitter |
UC Santa Barbara |
Newport Beach, Calif. |
| Alex Kandev |
So. |
Outside Hitter |
Long Beach State |
Sofia, Bulgaria |
| Jalen Phillips |
R-Jr. |
Opposite Hitter |
CSUN |
Anaheim, Calif. |
| Tread Rosenthal |
Jr. |
Setter |
Hawai’i |
Austin, Texas |
| Adrien Roure |
So. |
Outside Hitter |
Hawai’i |
Lyon, France |
| Kristian Titriyski |
So. |
Opposite Hitter |
Hawai’i |
Sofia, Bulgaria |
| Skyler Varga |
R-Sr. |
Opposite Hitter |
Long Beach State |
Muenster, Saskatchewan |