LOS ANGELES — Sixth-ranked and unseeded UC Irvine ousted top-seeded regional and 2026 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship host UCLA, 3-2, at Pauley Pavilion stunning the volleyball world and sending the Anteaters into the semifinal round. Set scores in in the match were 25-23, 19-25, 25-23, 19-25 and 16-14 in favor of the visitors. 

UCI improves to 20-8 on the year and advanced to take on No. 4 seed Ball State next Saturday, May 9, in Los Angeles in the top half of the expanded 12-team bracket after the Cardinals defeated Pepperdine, 3-2, in their regional final. The loss hands the Bruins just their second defeat of the season, turning them back on their home court for the first time since Feb. 12, 2025, a 3-0 defeat to eventual national champions and fellow Big West squad Long Beach State. 

The pivotal moment of the match came in the closing moments with UCLA held set point at 14-12. The Anteaters rallied for the final four points, including a successful challenge to spark the run that captured the set and match, 16-14, and turn back to hosts. Two of the final kills came from Andreas Brink and two Bruin attack errors completed the final sequence of events to finalize the night in Westwood.  

 

With the victory, UCI advances to the national collegiate semifinals for the eighth time in program history and the second since Big West sport sponsorship.  

 
Brinck hit .483 (17-3-29) in the contest, putting down four of his team-best 17 kills in the fifth set. The outside hitter also recorded a career-high seven digs. Outside hitter and Big West Freshman of the Year Andrej Jokanovic and middle blocker Trevor Clark followed with 14 kills each. Jokanovic was one shy of a double-double with nine digs, while Clark added two block assists and an ace while hitting .400 in the match. Setter Cameron Kosty had a team and career-high six total blocks with one solo denial to go with 47 assists, six digs, three kills and an ace. 

 

UCI took set wins in the first, third and fifth, getting the early match lead with the 25-23 first set victory. The Anteaters capitalized on UCLA's service errors, with six points directly resulting from these mistakes. Clark was instrumental for UCI, contributing key kills at critical moments, while Kosty facilitated multiple scoring plays with precise sets. Kills by Clark and Will D'Arcy and two Bruin attack errors stretched the margin to 16-11 near the midpoint, and the lead was 17-12 on a crafty over the shoulder kill by Brinck on two. Back-to-back blocks by the Bruins drew UCLA within two late in the frame. A kill by Clark put UCI at set point only to watch the Bruins rally with the next three, all kills, to make it 24-23 before Brinck was able to put it away to grab the set for the ‘Eaters.  

 

UCLA was able to level the score in the second after UCI managed to hit just .037 in the set. The Anteaters rallied back to again edge out to the advantage in the third after starting with the early lead that forced a UCLA timeout with the score at 8-4 in favor of UCI. Kosty’s solo stuff at 11-7 kept the momentum flowing and an ace for the redshirt freshman set the score at 14-9. The Bruins rallied back to knot the score at 18 apiece after a pair of kills for Zach Rama and then two more from Sean Kelly pushed UCLA in front, 20-19.  The back-and-forth battle continued to finish out the set before Micah Goss and Kosty clamped down the net for the block and set winner, 25-23.  

 

UCLA was paced by MPSF Player of the Year Andrew Rowan’s 57 assists with Kelly recording a game-high 26 kills on .435 hitting. Rama added 20 kills on .366 hitting while the team outhit UCI .388-.292 on the night. UCLA closes their season at 29-2 overall after a 13-1 record in the MPSF after spending the full year at No. 1 in the AVCA polls.