National Collegiate Championship History
Since The Big West began sponsoring the sport of men’s volleyball in 2018, the league is:
• 5-time national champion with Long Beach State winning three (2018, ’19, ’25) times and Hawai’i taking two (2021, ’22)
• A combined 24-8 (.750) overall with four different representatives in the field (LBSU, UH, UCI, UCSB)
All-time, The Big West is:
• 10-time national champion with Long Beach State winning four (1991, ’18, ’19, ’25), UC Irvine claiming four (2007, ’09, ’12, ’13) and Hawai’i taking two (2021, ’22)
• A combined 58-40 (.592) with five representatives in the field making a collective 42 appearances since 1970
All-American Heroes
The powerhouse Big West has yet again flexed its muscles on the national stage, this time on with individual recognitions. After three of the final four teams still serving up the action in the 2026 National Collegiate Championship hail from the league, now half of the first and second team All-Americans and another 10 honorable mention student-athletes join the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s (AVCA) 36th National Collegiate Men's Volleyball All-America Team.
All told, The Big West sees four first-team All-Americans, eight on the second team, 10 honorable mention selections and the AVCA Newcomer of the Year in UC Irvine’s Andrej Jokanovic, also named The Big West Freshman of the Year prior to the national postseason. The result is a league-wide showing that underscores both high-end star power and exceptional depth heading into the season’s final weekend in Westwood.
The 12 first and second team honorees is only bested by 2019’s 13 picks, and brings the total number of Big West All-American selections to 90 since the league began sport sponsorship in 2018.
Hawai'i sees two on the first team with Tread Rosenthal and Louis Sakanoko, second teamer Adrien Roure and three more honorable mention nods. Long Beach State's Skyler Varga got first team honors with second-team distinction for freshman duo Jackson Cryst and Wojciech Gajek and Kellen Larson, with two more honorable mention student-athletes. Shane Aitken earned first team honors for UC Irvine with Trevor Clark and Jokanovic on the second team and a trio of honorable mention picks among the 22 strong. Read more >>>
What 2 Watch 4 - History Made
For the first time in Big West history, the league sent three teams to the 2026 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship, and history was made again when all three advanced to the national semifinals after advancing through their respective regions. For No. 2 seed Hawai’i and third-seeded Long Beach State, the path ran through their home gym, while unseeded UC Irvine took down Penn State and top-seeded UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. Now, the Anteaters again face a non-conference foe in No. 4 seed Ball State while the Beach and the ’Bows showdown for the fourth time of the season in a rematch of The Big West Championship game.
How We Got Here
No. 2 seed Hawai’i 3, Southern California 1
In an historic night at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, No. 2 seed Hawai‘i advanced to the 2026 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship semifinals with a four-set win over Southern California, 25-22, 24-26, 25-23, 32-30, on May 2 in front of a record-setting 10,300 fans.
Playing a national collegiate men’s volleyball championship match at home for the first time, the Rainbow Warriors (28-5) earned their second consecutive Final Four appearance, fifth in the last six seasons and 11th in program history improving their record to 28-5 in the process.
Playing in a national postseason debut match, Kristian Titriyski led Hawai‘i with 19 kills. Adrien Roure added 13 kills on .458 hitting and recorded seven service aces, including four in a row during the fourth set, setting the Rainbow Warriors’ program national collegiate championship record for a four-set match.
Louis Sakanoko finished with 12 kills and five blocks, including a strong finish after a slow start, while Trevell Jordan had eight kills on 12 error-free swings and contributed four blocks. Big West Player of the Year Tread Rosenthal totaled 56 assists, along with three kills, three blocks and an ace as Hawai‘i hit .328 as a team.
No. 3 seed Long Beach State 3, Loyola 0
The Big West Champion and No. 3 seed Long Beach State advanced to the 2026 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship semifinals and one step closer to defending its title with a straight-set win over ninth-ranked Loyola in the regional finals, 25-21, 25-21, 25-19, at LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid on May 2.
With the victory, LBSU moves to 25-4 on the year and is set for a fourth tussle of the season with fellow Big West squad and second-seeded Hawai’i in the national collegiate semifinals. Both regular-season meetings went to the ’Bows with the five-set Championship battle going to the Beach at the Bren Events Center in Irvine last Saturday night.
Skyler Varga led the LBSU offense with 14 kills on .520 hitting and two aces. Connor Bloom added 12 kills at a .435 hitting clip, while Big West Championship MVB Wojciech Gajek contributed nine kills. Setter Jake Pazanti recorded 36 assists with a match-high eight digs. LBSU hit .369 as a team and the nation’s top serving squad finished with eight aces compared to just one for Loyola.
UC Irvine 3, No. 1 seed UCLA 2
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.
Scouting the Semis
• Long Beach State leads the all-time series against Hawai’i, 54-52. The 106 matches in the series is the most against one opponent in UH history.
• This season, UH swept the two-match regular season series in Long Beach for the first time since 2015. The Beach got their revenge, outlasting Hawai’i in five sets in The Big West Championship match.
• UH and LBSU have met twice in the national collegiate championship, both in the title match with the Beach winning in 2019 in Long Beach and UH winning in 2022 in Los Angeles.
• The teams have met 11 times in postseason play with UH holding a 6-5 advantage. The last eight postseason meetings have been in the finals of either a Big West or National Collegiate Championship.
• UC Irvine and Ball State have met six times since 2014 with the last meeting coming in 2019 in Muncie, Ind. The Anteater hold a 5-1 record over the Cardinals in that span with the only loss coming on the road in five in 2016.
About the Beach
Trends:
Won their last 11 games and their third Big West Championship crown (2018, ’24, ’26) in their fifth Championship finale; their first title also came against UH in the inaugural season of Big West play in 2018. Freshman Wojciech Gajek earned Most Valuable Player after averaging 4.63 kills and 5.88 points per set. In the final against the ‘Bows, Gajek hit .489 (27-5-45) with six blocks and three aces.
Notables:
Only league losses came at the hands of Hawai’i in the first week of the Big West slate back on March 20-21. Since then, LBSU has won their last 11 contests, including the Championship win against the ’Bows.. Only other two losses on the 2026 docket came in rematches of the 2025 national championship against No. 1 UCLA.
Hungry to Defend:
Long Beach State is hungry to defend their 2025 national collegiate championship title to put another set of back-to-back trophies in the case. The Beach also took home consecutive hardware in 2018 and ’19 under the direction of storied head coach Alan Knipe, who handed the reigns to protege and former player Nick MacRae before the 2026 campaign.
About the 'Bows
Trends & Notables:
Set a national collegiate attendance record with a sellout 10,300 fans in the regional final victory against Southern California. Won eight of their last 10 and played in a sixth Big West Championship game; won the Big West postseason crown on three occasions, including last season (2019, ’23, ’25).
A Winning Tradition
Since the start of the 2015 season, UH is the nation’s winningest team with 273 wins followed by Long Beach State (263). UH has the second-most NCAA Tournament appearances since 2015 with eight trips trailing Long Beach State (9).
About the 'Eaters
Trends:
5-5 in their last 10 games after closing the season with three of four against Long Beach State (regular season and Big West semifinals) and a home series against Hawai’i, before running through Penn State and No. 1 UCLA in the 2026 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship bracket.
Battle Tested
Along with the fierce Big West slate, UCI’s schedule featured top competition throughout the non-conference schedule, including nine matches against ranked foes. Notable wins came at then No. 3 Pepperdine, in a pair of five-setters at then-No. 8 BYU, in two victorious efforts against then-No. 16 Stanford and in a season split against then-No. 4 USC, earning the 3-1 road win in mid-February. The Anteaters’ schedule is rated eighth-toughest in the country, behind three fellow Big West Schools (UH, UCSB, LBSU), Ohio State, Stanford, Pepperdine and UCLA with all but one of those teams dotting the 2026 docket. In the Championship bracket, UCI has already bested Penn State and top-seeded UCLA.
Poll Position
The Big West sees four teams in the top 10 for the seventh straight week headlined by No. 2 Long Beach State and No. 3 Hawai’i, with UC Irvine at sixth and UC Santa Barbara landing in 10th in the latest AVCA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Poll. UC San Diego is right behind in 11th in the listings with CSUN at No. 18 for the sixth consecutive poll. Including the preseason poll, all 17 iterations of the 2026 poll have seen all six Big West squads in the Top 20 showcasing the overall strength of the conference.
AVCA Player of the Year Hopefuls
On April 8, the AVCA publicized the list of eight semifinalists for 2026 National Collegiate Player of the Year with two representatives from The Big West in Hawai’i junior setter Tread Rosenthal and Long Beach State senior Skyler Varga. The eight will be pared down to four prior to the Championship with the winner named in Los Angeles on May 8.
Back in February, five of the 15 on the first-ever watch list came from The Big West, with lone freshman Andrej Jokanovic of UC Irvine, CSUN’s Jalen Phillips and Adrien Roure of Hawai’i also earning distinction along with Rosenthal and Varga.
The Big West has flexed its muscles since sport sponsorship in 2018 with seven of the last eight Players of the Year coming from the conference, including the last five. Historically, Big West schools have claimed 14 awards since 1991. Recent winners include Rado Parapunov (2021 - Hawai’i), Alex Nikolov (2022 - Long Beach State), Jakob Thelle (2023 - Hawai’i), Hilir Henno (2024 - UC Irvine) and Moni Nikolov (2025 - Long Beach State).
The AVCA is scheduled to announce its slate of All-Americans and 2026 Newcomer of the Year next Wednesday, May 6 with Coach and Assistant Coach of the Year honors bestowed the following day. Then, Player of the Year will be revealed on Friday, May 8, on the eve of the semifinals in Los Angeles.
Coaches’ Corner
The Big West coaching lineup is decorated by national champions as players and coaches, national coaches of the year, one newcomer and 855 career wins heading into the 2026 campaign. Long Beach State alumni and long-time assistant Nick MacRae took the reigns from Hall of Fame coach Alan Knipe in December ahead of the 2026 campaign. Uniquely, five of the league’s six head coaches have only been the leader of their current team, with UCSB's Rick McLaughlin the only coach to have two stops on the resume. |
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