HONOLULU — The Big West men's volleyball championship trophy again resides in Mānoa.
The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team captured the program's fourth title with a four-set victory over top-seeded Long Beach State in the OUTRIGGER Big West Championship final on Saturday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
Adrien Roure put away 11 kills without an error to earn MVP honors,
Louis Sakanoko fired four aces to highlight the fourth set, and setter
Tread Rosenthal put down match point to close out the 25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22 victory for the Rainbow Warriors, who added the 2025 crown to their 2019, '22 and '23 Big West titles.
UH (26-5) also clinched the Big West's automatic bid to the National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship set for May 8-12 in Columbus, Ohio. The NCAA bracket will be revealed in the selection show on Sunday at 10 a.m. Hawai'i Time on
ncaa.com. Long Beach State (27-3) will await an at-large berth in the tournament.
The Warriors and Beach split a regular-season series on April 11 and 12 that drew two sellout crowds. The arena was again close to capacity for the third matchup of the season and the third meeting between UH and LBSU in the Big West final in the last six seasons.
UH freshman opposite
Finn Kearney led the Warriors with 14 kills to complement the efficiency of Roure, who hit .579 in the match and .491 in the tournament and also came up with nine digs on Saturday. Sakanoko finished with eight kills and his service turns in the fourth set helped UH overcome a six-point deficit on the way to finishing off the victory.
UH middles
Kurt Nusterer and
Justin Todd hit a combined 667 with 13 kills and one error in 18 attacks between them. Nusterer finished with six kills in his final match in the Stan Sheriff Center and Todd went 7-for-9 without an error and was in on five blocks.
Rosenthal distributed 42 assists for a UH attack that hit .411 and finished off the night with his fifth kill.
The Warriors hit a blistering .540 through the first two sets with 32 kills against five errors in 50 attempts. Long Beach State surged away early in the third set and again took an early lead in the fourth. But the Warriors caught and passed the Beach on their way to the championship.
Long Beach State erased an early three-point deficit in the first set and the teams traded 17 consecutive sideouts before Kearney put down back-to-back kills and Todd and Rosenthal combined on a block to give UH a 22-19 lead. Roure ended an extended rally by landing a shot just in the back corner to give UH set point at 24-20. The Beach survived the first set point but its next swing went long to give UH the set. The Warriors hit .500 in the opening set led by Kearney's 7-for-9 start.
UH opened up a 16-12 lead to prompt LBSU's first timeout of the second set. The Beach closed to within a point on six occasions and UH answered each time until Moni Nikolov put down a kill to tie the set at 22-22. But a Beach service error and an errant tip gave UH set point. After a timeout, LBSU's back-row attack sailed long and the Warriors took a 2-0 lead in the match.
Nikolov, the national leader in aces, had gone 11 sets without an ace in the three matches against UH this season until a run of four in a row early in the third set that gave the Beach a 7-2 lead. The LBSU lead grew to 12-4 and UH chipped into the deficit to close to 23-20 before the Beach closed out the set to extend the match.
Roure delivered UH's first ace of the night to the Warriors a 5-4 lead in the fourth but Long Beach State went on an 8-1 run to move ahead. UH responded with a 7-1 surge with Sakanoko drilling two aces in a five-point service turn. UH tied the set at 13-13 on a kill by Roure and went on to take a 17-15 lead. After LBSU tied the set at 19-19, the Warriors again moved ahead at 22-20 and the Beach took its final timeout. Sakanoko then fired back-to-back aces to suddenly give UH championship point. LBSU survived the next two points to close to 24-22 but Rosenthal tapped down the final point off the serve reception from Roure to spark the celebration.
Nato Dickinson led Long Beach State with 21 kills on .485 hitting and Nikolov had 47 assists and seven kills.
#HawaiiMVB
