No. 6 UC Irvine Men’s Volleyball (20-8, 5-5) advanced to the final four of the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship after topping No. 1 UC Los Angeles (29-2, 13-1) in front of 1,673 spectators at the NCAA Los Angeles regional final at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on May 2.
This was the first time UC Irvine has won against UCLA since 2017.
Starting for UCI on the Bruin court was senior opposite William D’Arcy, junior opposite/outsider hitter Trevor Clark, redshirt sophomore libero Shane Aitken, sophomore middle blocker Micah Goss, redshirt freshman setter Cameron Kosty, freshman outside hitter Andreas Brinck and freshman outside hitter Andrej Jokanovic. The first to step to the service line was UCLA sophomore outsider hitter Sean Kelly. He served the ball straight into the net, granting UCI the first point of the match.
In the following point, UCLA collected their first point of the match with a touch off a block from Clark and Kosty to tie the set 1-1.
Immediately after, Jokanovic fired the ball off a set from Kosty straight into a UCLA pocket to take the lead UCI 2-1.
The two teams exchanged several points until UCLA committed a few service and attack errors that allowed UCI to get a two point lead 10-8.
UCLA continued their streak of errors, bringing UCI back up to continue the lead 16-11.
After the teams exchanged service errors, the Anteaters brought their offensive spirit with back-to-back kills from D’Arcy and Clark to lead the set 22-18.
After a timeout, the Bruins came back to the court with a new rigor. Senior outside hitter Zach Rama, redshirt junior opposite David Decker and senior middle blocker Cameron Thorne blocked two consecutive D’Arcy spikes.
When UCI was at set point, UCLA executed three kills to narrow the gap and slow the UCI momentum.
Despite this effort, Brinck spiked a ball too strong for UCLA to control, claiming the set for Irvine 25-23.
The Bruins collected the first two points of the second set with a kill from Kelly and a net violation committed by Goss.
However, UCI quickly recovered with a block from Kosty and Clark to tie the set 2-2.
Following the point, Goss achieved a lead for the Anteaters with a service ace.
The two teams exchanged leads for multiple points until UCLA took a significant five point lead due to a combination of attack errors and even a service error from Kosty.
UCLA continued their momentum in the second set with two consecutive kills and a service ace from Decker to lead the set 21-14.
Unfortunately for the Anteaters, a long D’Arcy spike out of bounds is what granted the Bruins a set point, widening the gap between the two teams, 24-17.
The UCLA lead was too great for Irvine to narrow, allowing UCLA to seal the set win with a kill by Thorne, which landed directly into D’Arcy’s face. Thorne immediately went under the net to apologize before celebrating his set win.
For the third set, UCLA came out strong with three consecutive kills from Thorne and Rama.
The Anteaters quickly found their footing when Clark came back to deliver kills for the Anteaters, along with his blocking experience to achieve two attack errors on the UCLA end. With this, Irvine took a lead 6-3.
The two teams went kill for kill for several points, UCLA not quite catching up to UCI, until several kills from Kelly left UCLA only one point down 16-15.
In the final stretch of the set, there was a rally where Kosty was forced to receive the first touch but a set by Jokanovic allowed him to spike the ball directly down the middle of the court granting Irvine set point.
After a UCLA timeout, Irvine sealed the set win 25-23 with an iron-wall block by Kosty and Goss.
UCLA caught an early lead in the fourth set. After the Bruins collected the first point of the set, they then gained a three point lead cultivated by a combination of kills and even a service ace from their star of the night, Kelly.
Despite the great start for UCLA, UCI quickly closed the gap with a three point streak to tie the set 6-6.
The teams continuously exchanged the lead until UCLA widened the gap by five points due to two kills and a solo block by Rama, as well as an additional kill by Kelly.
However, UCI didn’t give up. During a rally, a free ball from redshirt junior libero Christopher Connelly forced Goss to set the ball to Jokanovic, who closely received the ball back to Goss, giving up another free ball to UCLA. An over-pass gave Jokanovic the opportunity to fire the ball, causing it to bounce off a UCLA player out of bounds. This narrowed the gap between the two teams 20-17.
Out of a UCLA timeout, the home team collected an additional three kills and a service from Kelly.
Due to the significant UCLA lead, Irvine was unable to catch up and a kill from Kelly solidified the fourth set for UCLA 25-19.
In the home stretch of the match, Kosty opened the set with a smooth dunk to collect the first point of the set for Irvine.
Following the point, Kosty went to the service line and served into the net, tying the set 1-1. UCLA quickly took this opportunity to snatch the lead with a service ace.
After the two teams exchanged a few points, UCLA gained a three point streak to lead the set 8-4.
However, the momentum for Irvine changed when they came out of the court swap with a three point streak earned by two kills from Jokanovic and a block from Kosty and Clark.
With the two teams tied 9-9, they traded several points until UCLA took a two point lead with back-to-back kills from Rama.
The most controversial call of the night was regarding a spike from Brinck. The spike was originally called out with no touch, which would have been the winning point for UCLA 15-12. However, after head coach David Kniffin challenged the call, the referees decided there was a touch on the ball by Thorne.
After the break in the play due to the challenge, UCI gained hefty momentum with kills from Brinck — but more importantly, from attack errors from UCLA.
UCI was victorious against UCLA after Rama spiked the ball out of bounds, ending the set 16-14 and the match 3-2.
“It wasn’t even about whether we got the touch or not, it was about sustaining belief,” Kniffin said in a press conference following the second round match. “We were going to compete until the match was over, and at that point, when the challenge is in play, the match isn’t over.”
UC Irvine faces No. 7 Ball State University at Pauley Pavilion in the National Collegiate semifinals on May 9.
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.
