No. 5 UC Irvine Men’s Volleyball (18-8, 5-5) advanced to the second round of the Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship after their 3-1 win against the No. 18 California State University, Northridge (CSUN) Matadors (12-15, 0-10) at the Bren Events Center on April 23.
First on the court to start the match for UCI were senior opposite William D’Arcy, sophomore middle blocker Micah Goss, freshman outside hitter Andrej Jokanovic, junior outside hitter/opposite Trevor Clark, redshirt freshman setter Cameron Kosty and freshman outside hitter Andreas Brinck. CSUN successfully served the first ball of the match for Jokanovic to controversially spike the ball out of line. The Matadors challenged the Irvine point, claiming there was no touch on the ball as Jokanovic spiked out. The challenge was unsuccessful, granting Irvine the first point of the match.
After the dramatic sequence, Kosty stepped to the service line and served into the net to tie the set 1-1.
The teams exchanged several points until Goss blocked a spike from CSUN sophomore middle blocker Joao Favarim, forcing the Matadors to give a free ball straight back to Goss who spiked the ball and gave Irvine the lead 7-5.
UC Irvine widened the gap in their lead with Clark serving to collect a five point streak and even a service ace. The offensive efforts from Brinck and Goss allowed Irvine to take a lead 20-13.
However, CSUN slowly closed the gap. After Brinck spiked out of bounds to end the Irvine streak, the two teams exchanged points until CSUN gained a three point streak due to multiple attack errors from Jokanovic to make the set 24-19.
After a service error from junior opposite Andon Kiriakou, CSUN was given another chance but senior middle blocker Shane Nhem served into the net to secure the first set for Irvine 25-20.
CSUN quickly gained their footing in the second set with an open hand tip against D’Arcy to claim a touch and first point of the set. However, the Matadors had a net serve to tie it 1-1.
In the following point, Jokanovic served hard into the net. CSUN took this opportunity to gain momentum and after a controversial point met with a failed challenge from UCI, CSUN took the lead 3-1.
CSUN held the lead for a little until a block from Goss and Kosty began a five point streak for UCI to take back the lead in the set 7-4.
The two teams exchanged points for several rounds with a mixture of service errors and successful kills from both ends.
UCI obtained multiple attack errors from Jokanovic giving CSUN the offensive advantage with their star player redshirt junior opposite Jalen Phillips providing the attacking support needed to gain a lead of 21-19.
CSUN maintained their offensive spirit to secure the second set 25-20.
In the third set, the Anteaters collected the first point due to a four touch rule violation from CSUN. Following the next point, Jokanovic’s open hand tipped the ball into a CSUN opening to collect the second point of the set for Irvine.
UCI quickly gained their footing thanks to the attacking power from Clark who unexpectedly drove the ball straight down the middle of the court. The clever play was immediately followed by a strong service ace from Jokanovic for UCI to lead the set 4-1.
The two teams traded points for some time until Irvine held a four point lead due to service and attacking errors from Phillips. Clark’s attacking power pulled the lead to 13-6.
In the middle of the set, there was a long succession of service errors — a total of three per team. The dry spell was broken by a seamless block from Goss, Brinck and D’Arcy to continue their lead 17-9.
With a significant lead, the Anteaters closed out the set with a signature D’Arcy kill to lead the match 2-1.
D’Arcy opened the fourth set with a soft attack to collect the first point of the set for UCI. However, the following point was taken by CSUN with a solid attack from Phillps.
The teams exchanged points until CSUN gained a four point streak to take the lead 9-6 thanks to an impressive combination of service aces and kills from Phillips. However, the Anteaters did not falter and picked up their own three point streak with a service ace from Kosty to tie the set 10-10.
Continuing their momentum, the team collectively dominated the Matadors. Jokanovic collected two service aces while Clark scored a kill and blocked a point to lead the Anteaters 14-11. However, CSUN managed to close the gap due to a couple attacking mistakes and net violations from Goss.
The Matadors took the lead 18-16 with a couple kills from Phillips. The CSUN player even acquired service aces by targeting the back of the line where D’Arcy resided.
Momentum changed for UCI when they substituted in Kiriakou for only the second time in the entire match. Due to this change, the Anteaters managed to narrow the set, consistently edging CSUN.
Jokanovic served a controversial ball that was originally called out but was immediately challenged by UCI head coach David Kniffin. The challenge was successful, granting an ace and a 3-1 victory for the Anteaters.
“It’s a team full of really thoughtful and intelligent athletes,” Coach Kniffin said in a press conference following the quarterfinal game. “[Jokanovic] is one of those elite problem solvers so if he’s hitting zero for a while, he’s probably not going to stay there cause he’s going to find a solution.”
Coming off a win, UC Irvine faced No. 3 Long Beach State University on April 24 in the Big West Championship semifinals. Ultimately, the Anteaters were defeated by the Beach 3-0.
Trinity Siqueiros is a Sports Intern for the spring 2026 quarter. She can be reached at siqueirt@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor and Geneses Navarro.
