Three out of the four teams still standing in the NCAA men’s volleyball tournament are Big West Teams. And the two from Southern California have gotten here via dramatically different paths.
Unseeded UC Irvine pulled off the improbable when it knocked off top-seeded UCLA in five sets in the regional finals. Third-seeded Long Beach State swept unseeded Loyola Chicago while eyeing its second consecutive NCAA championship.
The Anteaters’ next task is fourth-seeded Ball State and Long Beach will play second-seeded Hawai’i in Saturday’s semifinals at Pauley Pavilion, with the final at 4 p.m. Monday
UC Irvine vs. Ball State
If UC Irvine (20-8) advances, it’ll be the program’s first trip to the finals since 2013. That was the year David Kniffin led the Anteaters to a 3-0 national championship sweep of BYU.
“I’m feeling the wind in the sails,” said Kniffin, who has coached the Anteaters since 2012. “There’s a lot of people that are really proud of what we’re building here – results aside.”
The Anteaters averaged more than 2,000 fans per match at the Bren Event Center during the regular season, and the tournament results have only added to the outpouring of support. They beat Penn State in five sets in the regionals before going the distance with host UCLA in the next round.
UCLA owns 21 national titles and was back-to-back champion in 2023 and 2024 before finishing as runner-up to Long Beach State in 2025. Four Bruins were named AVCA first team All-Americans this year while libero Shane Aitken was the lone Anteater to make the 12-player list of honorees.
“The alums through the eras that wrote in,” Kniffin said, “just loved the effort and the energy and the professionalism of our players in terms of how they conducted themselves and how they fought and battled.
“And everyone knows that it’s a David-and-Goliath moment. You’ve got the most-resourced school in men’s volleyball going up against the least-resourced school in that tournament. It’s just super fun for the alums to get behind that. Those are the stories that inspire.”
UC Irvine’s roster features a balanced mix of international and California talent. Underclassmen have shined, including 6-foot-5 setter/opposite Cameron Kosty and 6-foot-7 outside hitter and AVCA Newcomer of the Year Andrej Jokanovic.
Jokanovic leads the Big West in total kills this season (388) and is averaging 3.37 kills per set. Kosty, who’s the son of Stanford men’s volleyball coach John Kosty, is an all-around contributor with 23 total service aces, 102 digs and 50 total blocks (.49 per set).
Aitken, a 6-foot redshirt sophomore who prepped at St. Margaret’s in San Juan Capistrano, ranks second in the Big West with a 1.97 dig average.
Ball State needed five sets to get past Pepperdine in its regional final. It is led by 6-foot-7 outside hitter Patrick Rogers, who is one of four finalists for the 2026 National Collegiate Men’s Player of the Year award. The senior and three-year Cardinal is sixth nationally in kills per set (3.94), third in points per set (4.72) and seventh in hitting (.405).
Long Beach State vs. Hawai’i
The Beach (25-4) are making their ninth semifinal appearance in 10 years and have reached the finals in five out of the last seven tournaments. This time around, they’ll be guided by first-year head coach Nick MacRae.
“With my guys, I believe we’re a player-led team,” MacRae said. “We strive to be direct. It’s not necessarily about having a fear of conflict; it’s both ensuring that trust is built up and it’s either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ if you’re building trust and it’s ensuring that we have all lines of communication always open.”
Trust is a cornerstone of this season’s success. It has the team on an 11-match winning streak and could be the difference-maker in a fourth matchup against Hawai’i (28-5) this season. Long Beach State lost twice in March before beating the Rainbow Warriors in five sets in the Big West championship in late April.
“From my guys’ standpoint, it’s ensuring that they have the maturity and composure to strive to execute when it gets close or when it gets late in the sets,” MacRae said, “and then mix that with simply the hunger to go out to compete, to try and take it and not live in fear of taking a strategic risk. They know I have their back.”
Long Beach State is one of the best-serving teams in the nation and leads the NCAA in aces per set with 2.24, which MacRae attributes to his team’s ability to pressure an opponent with its serve block defense and transition.
Skyler Varga, a 6-foot-7 opposite, is 11th nationally in aces per set and has 48 total this season. The AVCA first-team All-American and Team Canada player also averages 3.20 kills per set and is hitting .322.
“The game right now for Skyler is played at a very slow level because he’s played on the international stage representing Team Canada and he’s played at even higher levels,” MacRae said. “Skylar naturally knows what he needs to do.”
Jake Pazanti, a 6-foot-3 redshirt freshman setter, dishes out 12 assists per set. The Huntington Beach High product will be getting the ball to Varga as well as 6-foot-5 outside hitter/opposite and Orange Lutheran alumnus Connor Bloom, who is averaging four kills per set.
Hawai’i, which dispatched USC in four tight sets to advance, won back-to-back NCAA championships in 2021 and 2022, and was the runner-up in 2023. Tread Rosenthal, a 6-foot-11 setter, and 6-foot-5 outside hitter Louis Sakanoko were both named first-team All-Americans this season, and Rosenthal is a finalist for Player of the Year.
Rosenthal, a Mira Costa High grad, is eight aces away from breaking the program record of 122. He also ranks second in the nation in assists per set (10.75) and averages .88 kills per set with a .425 hitting percentage.
NCAA MEN’S VOLLEYBALL SEMIFINALS
First match: UC Irvine (20-8) vs. No. 4 seed Ball State (26-4), 3:30 p.m.
Second match: No. 3 Long Beach State (25-4) vs. No. 2 Hawai’i (28-5), 6:30 p.m.
When: Saturday
Where: Pauley Pavilion
TV/Radio: ESPN+