Hawaii Men’s Volleyball outlasts USC in four sets to reach NCAA Final Four

MANOA — See you in Los Angeles Rainbow Warrior fans.

The University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team punched its ticket into NCAA Final Four with a 25-22, 24-26, 25-23, 32-30 victory over the University of Southern California in a quarterfinal regional before a record crowd of 10,300 at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center Saturday night.

Hawai’i improved to 28-5 with the win as the Rainbow Warriors advanced to the final four for the 11th time in program history as they’ll continues their hunt for their first national championship since 2022 when they meet Long Beach State in the semifinals on May 9th at Pauley Pavilion.

Sophomore opposite Kristian Titriyski, who missed last year’s NCAA tournament due to injury, led the effort with a match-high 19 kills.

“It’s good winning at home, definitely so happy and we expected to win this game and advance to the next stage of the tournament,” said Titriyski.

“We were preparing well all week for this team. We were watching a lot of film and in the practice gym following their tendencies.”

Sophomore opposite Kristian Titriyski put down a match-high 19 kills in his first-ever NCAA tournament match. | Photo: Daniel Fujita, HSRN

After only seeing five ties and two lead changes in the first two sets, the final two frames saw a combined 37 ties and 15 lead changes that ultimately ended up in Hawai’i’s favor.

“These guys have played a lot of high level volleyball. There’s nothing out there that we haven’t seen before,” said Hawai’i coach Charlie Wade.

“Just keep battling, keep making plays and I thought they really embraced that tonight and that’s how we were able to win the close sets and ended up winning the match.”

Outside hitter Adrien Roure added 13 kills while hitting .458 and had a career-high seven aces — including a stretch of four consecutive points to give Hawai’i a 20-13 lead in the fourth set.

Louis Sakanoko also finished with double-digit kills as he shook off a slow start to put down 10 of his 12 kills in the final two stanzas. The junior outside hitter started the match 0-for-9 with two hitting errors before getting his next two swings to go down for kills in the second set.

Middle blocker Trevell Jordan added eight kills without any errors on 12 swings and had a hand in four blocks.

The Rainbow Warriors also saw the return of middle Justin Todd, who went down with an injury during the Big West tournament. He added six kills with three blocks.

“Justin is on such an ascendent kind of phase in his career,” Wade said of Todd. “He really is emerging into one of the dominant middle blockers in the U.S.”

Setter Tread Rosenthal, the Big West Player of the Year, had 56 assists to pilot the offense as Hawai’i hit .328 as a team to USC’s .294. Rosenthal also had a dominant serve to close out the pivotal third set to give the Rainbow Warriors’ an important 2-1 lead in the match.

Tread Rosenthal holds up the NCAA tournament board in celebration after defeating USC. | Photo: Daniel Fujita, HSRN

“He’s got the clutch gene and you know when the game is on the line, he’s going to give you a good effort,” Wade said of Rosenthal.

The Rainbow Warriors advance to play Long Beach State in the semifinals in what will be the two team’s fourth meeting this year. Hawai’i won the two regular season matchups, but lost in the conference tournament a weekend ago.

“Extremely motivated,” Titriyski said on the rematch against Long Beach. “We have a couple of days of rest now so we’ll clear the heads. Just try to rest as much as we can and we’ll get back to work.”