LOS ANGELES — Pauley Pavilion is the home of the school with more men’s volleyball national championships than any other.
Monday night, it housed a team with as many national titles this decade as every other school combined.
Second-seeded 91直播 completed the first 30-win season in program history to win its third national championship since 2021, defeating UC Irvine 15-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-20 in the final of the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championships.
Inside an arena that was close to even in fan support, the Rainbow Warriors (30-5) got shellacked in the opening set before coming back to play nearly flawless volleyball to earn a third straight win over the Anteaters (21-9) this season.
More importantly, 91直播 completed a 3-0 run through the first 12-team NCAA Tournament ever played to claim the ninth overall NCAA team championship in all sports in UH history.
“We’ve built something that is unique (on) the planet, and people see it all over,” said 91直播 coach Charlie Wade, who also led UH to national titles in 2021 and ’22. “We’re continuing to get better and build a better roster, and this is just the next step forward.”
After hitting .167 with seven errors and losing the opening set by double digits, 91直播 had only eight attack errors the rest of the match and hit .452 or better in each of the final three sets.
It culminated in a fourth set in which UH hit .538 and ended the match on Kristian Titriyski’s match-high 16th kill.
“I’ve talked about this all season. I think we’re just a more mature team this year,” 91直播 setter Tread Rosenthal said. “You saw that exact same first set last year against UCLA (in the national semifinals) and we couldn’t come back from it. You saw a different team this year just understanding that we’re OK and we got three more sets of volleyball that we can win and that’s what we did.”
91直播’s offense was as balanced as it has been this season. Adrien Roure followed Titriyski with 15 kills and a team-high seven digs, and Louis Sakanoko, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, had 12 kills, six digs and three blocks and hit .500.
Sakanoko also had three consecutive aces early in the fourth set to put 91直播 ahead 8-6.
“It’s like an ego boost every time you have a personal award, but at the same time, without Tread, Kristian, Adrien, even the ‘B’ side, everyone, we’re a team,” Sakanoko said. “To be honest, it’s just nice that we have a chance to be a good group of really talented players and we’re also friends outside of volleyball and I’m happy we won.”
The matchup in the final was between two teams that did not win their conference. 91直播 was second in the Big West to Long Beach State and UC Irvine was third.
The Anteaters had to defeat three straight conference champions — Penn State, No. 1 seed UCLA and No. 4 seed Ball State — to reach the final and came out playing with nothing to lose.
The Anteaters had seven blocks in the opening set and were up 18-8 before committing their first error.
They finished the set hitting .563 and beat UH as bad as it had been beaten in any individual set this season.
“It was going to be a narrow path (to victory), and I think we missed just a couple of moments that could have been the difference,” UC Irvine coach David Kniffin said. “Ultimately we got outmuscled by an incredibly physical and talented and experienced team.”
Titriyski had a kill and then went on a four-point scoring run in the second set to help 91直播 double up the Anteaters and take an 11-5 lead. UCI never got closer than four points as 91直播 evened the match.
UCI freshman Andrej Jovanovic, who led the Anteaters with 13 kills, had a one-on-one kill opportunity go out of bounds on an unforced mistake that kept the third set tied at 9-9 instead of putting UCI ahead 10-8.
91直播 rattled off seven of the next nine points, with Roure delivering a four-point scoring turn to give UH separation.
91直播 closed out the match on a 7-3 run, with Titriyski ending the final the same way he did Saturday’s semifinal against Long Beach State — with a kill.
“I’m just happy,” said Titriyski, who was visibly emotional following the final point. “We’ve put a lot of work into this season. Everyone put their hearts into this team just for one reason, and it was to win.”
Every starting 91直播 hitter hit .323 or better. Middles Justin Todd and Trevell Jordan combined for 12 kills in 17 swings with only two errors.
91直播 ended the season with three wins each against both Long Beach State and UC Irvine and all of them were either on the road or at a neutral site. None of those matches were played at the Stan Sheriff Center.
“I’m really appreciate of this group that bought in,” Wade said. “We were properly calloused coming into this. We’ve had some adversity. We’ve had some setbacks. It wasn’t a perfect season, but it was a perfect ending.”
