LOS ANGELES — As gold confetti rained onto the court in Pauley Pavilion, the University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team celebrated its return to the NCAA summit.
Four years after claiming the program's last national title in the famed arena on the campus of UCLA, the Rainbow Warriors overcame a slow start in Monday's National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship final to surge to a four-set victory over UC Irvine and capture UH's third national championship.
The last of
Kristian Titriyski's match-high 16 kills punctuated UH's 15-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-20 victory and completed the Warriors' quest to add another NCAA trophy to the program's collection.
Boosted by green-clad supporters in Los Angeles, the Warriors (30-5) secured their first national championship since winning the second of back-to-back titles in 2021 and '22, while setting the program's record for victories in a season.
UH had swept the regular-season series with UC Irvine (21-9) at the Bren Events Center in early April, and Monday's win in the all-Big West national final marked the Warriors' sixth straight victory over the Anteaters.
Playing in the NCAA final for the fifth time in the last seven years, UH struggled to a .167 hitting percentage with seven attack errors in the opening set. The Warriors responded by hitting .481 while committing just eight errors over the next three sets to finish at .410 for the match.
Setter
Tread Rosenthal orchestrated the Warriors' balanced attack and helped spark UH's turnaround in the second set. The Big West Player of the Year finished the night with 44 assists, three kills and three blocks.
Titriyski hit .387 over his 31 attempts, delivered two of UH's nine service aces, and pounded the final kill on championship point.
Louis Sakanoko was named the NCAA Tournament MVP following a 12-kill performance on .500 hitting. Sakanoko also tied his season high with three aces, all coming in succession in a pivotal run in the fourth set. Rosenthal and Titriyski joined Sakanoko on the All-Tournament Team.
Adrien Roure finished with 15 kills and hit .323, and UH middles
Trevell Jordan and
Justin Todd hit a combined .588 with 12 kills between them.
Andrej Jokanovic posted a team-high 13 kills for UC Irvine, which scored the first four points of the match to set the tone in the opening set. The Anteaters led by as many as 11 and hit .562 in the set and posted seven blocks while holding UH to its lowest point total in a set this season.
The efficiency numbers flipped in the second set with the Warriors hitting .452 while UCI cooled off to a .222 showing. UH took its first lead of the match to open the second set, and Rosenthal ignited a 5-0 run that pushed UH ahead 11-5. Rosenthal put down a kill on two, sent back a block and hammered another kill in the UH surge. UH extended the lead to 21-13 on a block by Titriyski and Jordan and closed out the set to even the match.
There were nine ties to open the third set before Roure curled in an ace then forced an overpass that Sakanoko put away to push UH ahead 15-11. A block by Rosenthal put UH up 21-15, Todd hammered two kills and a UCI error gave UH set point. Titriyski's 11
th kill finished off the set to move the Warriors within a set of the title.
Sakanoko sparked the Warriors in the fourth set by landing three consecutive aces to give UH an 8-6 lead. A block by Jordan and Sakanoko, followed by
Finn Kearney's ace gave UH a 16-12 lead. UCI cut a five-point deficit to one, but with UH clinging to an 18-17 lead, the Warriors went on a 5-1 run to reclaim control. A kill from Rosenthal gave UH championship point at 24-19. Titriyski then completed UH's title run with the final kill of the 2026 men's volleyball season. UH secured the title by hitting .538 in the final set with Titriyski accounting for five kills and Sakanoko going 4-for-6 with three aces and a block.
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