Hawaii captures NCAA men's volleyball title with a 4-set win over Big West rival UC Irvine

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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.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports