Big West Champion Hawai’i Closes Season in National Collegiate Semifinals

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Big West champion and No. 2 seed Hawai’i couldn’t overcome the early firepower of third-seeded and defending champion UCLA, falling in the semifinal round of the 2025 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship at the Covelli Center on Saturday night.  

The Bruins improve their record to 22-6 on the season after sweeping the match with set scores of 25-14, 25-23, and 25-23. Meanwhile, UH closes their campaign at 27-6 in their return season to the national stage after a one-year hiatus.   

UCLA now advances to meet No. 1 seed Long Beach State in the championship, in a highly anticipated rematch of the 2024 finale. The Beach will be looking for their fourth title and a first since 2019, while UCLA is eyeing three straight victories to continue their dominant run. 

The Rainbow Warriors were led by freshman Adrien Roure’s 12 kills on .333 hitting with two service aces. Sophomore Tread Rosenthal tallied 19 assists to go along with five digs and four kills. Justin Todd added four blocks and a pair of kills in the loss. Statistically, the ’Bows were outhit .370 to .188 and outblocked 11 to four, and UCLA’s sweltering start proved too much to handle.  

The Rainbow Warriors opened up the match with the first point of the day off the hand of Finn Kearney and an ace for Roure set the score at 3-1. A notable run of eight consecutive points powered by Cooper Robinson on the serve handed the Bruins the 10-4 advantage and UCLA was able to keep stretching the lead. It was 18-9 after a block for Sean McQuiggan and Andrew Rowan, and Zach Rama’s strike off a Rowan assist finished the frame with a commanding 25-14 win.  

In the second, UH again eased uut to the 3-1 lead, but the Bruins got the next points three capped by an ace for Rowan to again edge out in front. A big out of system point after hustle dig for ‘Eloy Choy resulted in a kill for Roure to knot the frame at four apiece. A Kearney ace after a successful challenge by UH gave the ’Bows a 10-8 advantage, but the momentum was thwarted by five straight for the Bruins.  

UH kept fighting to knot the set at points 18 through 22 and a kill for Kainoa Wade off a Kearney pass put Hawai’i up 23-22. Unfortunately, that was their last point of the set as the frame ended 25-23 in favor of UCLA after Sean Kelley and McQuiggan finished it out with the denial at the net.  

UCLA led for the duration of the third set, but the ’Bows again fought to the final point, pulling within one at 22-21 after an ace for Roure was followed by kill for Louis Sakanoko. Back-to-back service errors followed to keep it a one-point margin but the Bruins scored the final two points on the court to win the frame. A UCLA red card after the action ended resulted in a final third-set score of 25-23.  

UCLA’s offense was paced by 13 kills on .435 hitting for Kelly and a 10-kill outing for Rama. Rowan recorded a match-best 34 assists with McQuiggan finishing the night with seven total blocks including two solo stuffs.  

The Bruins now play for their 22nd national championship in program history. UCLA has won the last two titles, after a 15-year drought.  

Meeting up with LBSU in the finals for consecutive seasons, 2025 will mark the third time since 2018 that the Beach and Bruins compete for the trophy. In 2018, LBSU came away with the five-set win at ULCA and last season’s four-setter was contested at Walter Pyramid. Monday will see a neutral site matchup between the two for the rubber match in recent history, since The Big West began sponsoring men’s volleyball. LBSU and UCLA also tussled for superiority once before, in 1970’s inaugural championship won by the Bruins.