Long Beach State stuns Hawai’i late to take 2026 Big West Championship crown

They don’t say it’s hard to beat a team three times for no reason.

The top-seeded University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team learned that saying the hard way on Saturday night in the 2026 OUTRIGGER Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, falling inside the Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif., against No. 2-seeded Long Beach State (24-4, 8-2 Big West) in a five-set marathon, (25-20, 25-27, 25-22, 28-30, 15-11).

Freshman opposite Wojciech Gajek racked up a career-best 27 kills on 45 swings to help lead the Beach to the program’s third-ever Big West tournament crown. The 6-foot-6 product of Poland also added three of LBSU’s seven service aces along with five digs and six blocks on the way to earning tournament Most Valuable Player honors.

Hawai’i (27-5, 9-1 Big West) saw their repeat bid denied despite a 20-kill, 7-dig, 5-block performance out of standout sophomore Kristian Titriyski, who missed UH’s postseason run last season while dealing with an injury.

“Certainly the match was entertaining, could’ve gone either way,” head coach Charlie Wade said after his Rainbow Warriors dropped a five-setter for the first time this season. “We had a chance, I thought, if we win the second [set], things probably go a little different and in the fourth … we had a chance to close it out, but you’ve got to give credit.”

UH took the night’s opening stanza behind big showings from Titriyski and sophomore middle blocker Ofeck Hazan, who got the start in place of injured middle blocker Justin Todd. Titriyski tallied six of his 20 kills in the first frame while Hazan got hands on four blocks and added a pair of kills for good measure.

“Ofeck is the consummate professional,” Wade said of his reserve sophomore middle blocker. “He’s a guy that’s always ready to go when called upon and he just battles … we’re just thrilled he’s on our team.”

Hawai’i put themselves in the driver seat midway through the second set, using Louis Sakanoko’s sixth kill of the match to take a 15-13 lead at the media break. The regular season champion Rainbow Warriors remained in front until the final few turns of the encore frame, seeing the Beach rally to take a late advantage and finish off the set with back-to-back putdowns from Gajek and Ben Braun.

Tempers began to flare as the two sides chirped between the net from the start of the third set, trading massive rejections and putdowns at the net. Hawai’i reached 15 first again, but LBSU countered with five of the next seven points to lead ahead, 19-17.

UH was able to even the scales at 20, setting up a race to five with a win-by-two stipulation.

Louis Sakanoko knotted the swing frame at 22, putting the ball into the hands of Tread Rosenthal for a set-ending run behind the service line. The junior setter crushed three consecutive serves, capped off by one of his two aces on the night, to put the Rainbow Warriors in the driver’s seat with a 2-1 set lead.

Long Beach State refused to lose.

Hawai’i rallied from a three-point deficit late in the fourth to knot the set at 22 and had five different chances at championship point, but the Beach fought off all five before Jackson Cryst changed the fortunes of the No. 2 seed with back-to-back aces to deliver the fourth frame to LBSU and set up a winner-take-all fifth stanza between the Beach and ‘Bows for the second time this season.

LBSU would get vengeance for the first time when Hawai’i held them off in the Pyramid back during the regular season, racing out to a 12-5 advantage before holding off one last push from the Rainbow Warriors for a 15-11 decision and first Big West title since 2024.

Skylar Varga added 16 kills, nine digs and six blocks for LBSU while Jackson Cryst tacked on eight kills, nine blocks and three momentum-changing aces.

Hawai’i got 17 kills from Louis Sakanoko and 15 kills from Adrien Roure, but the two combined for 13 hitting miscues and 11 of the 19 serving errors by UH.

The middle blocker duo of Ofeck Hazan and Trevell Jordan provided a lift on a night Hawai’i needed all hands on deck, seeing Hazan’s spot start result in six kills, no attacking errors and a team-high nine blocks while Jordan had three kills (one attack error) and three blocks in the loss for UH.

Tread Rosenthal racked up 54 assists, four kills, four digs, four blocks and two aces, continuing his ascent up the UH career leader chart in service scorers with his 114th ace helping tie him for fifth in program history with Rado Parapunov.

Long Beach State receives the Big West’s automatic qualifier berth to the NCAA Tournament while Hawai’i is expected to receive one of the at-large bids to the new 12-team bracket pool.

Asked about his belief of where Hawai’i should be playing next weekend in the regional round of the national tournament, head coach Charlie Wade held firm on the Rainbow Warriors deserving to be one of the host sites.

“Stan Sheriff Center,” the veteran head coach flatly stated.

The official bracket for the national tournament will be revealed at 10 a.m. HT on Sunday, April 26 on NCAA.com.