The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa men’s volleyball team will make its 10th NCAA Championship appearance after earning the No. 2 overall seed and the Big West’s automatic berth. The Rainbow Warriors (26-5) will face the winner of Daemen and Penn State in a national quarterfinal match on May 8, at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio.
UH clinched its spot in the nine-team national tournament with a four-set victory over top-seeded Long Beach State in the OUTRIGGER Big West Championship final at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on April 26. The Rainbow Warriors added the 2025 title to their previous Big West crowns in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
Adrien Roure led the way with 11 kills without an error to earn tournament MVP honors. Finn Kearney posted a team-high 14 kills, and Louis Sakanoko sparked a fourth-set comeback with four aces. Setter Tread Rosenthal finished the match with his fifth kill to close out the 25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22 win.
The Rainbow Warriors hit .411 for the match and .540 through the first two sets, combining for 32 kills against five errors. Middles Kurt Nusterer and Justin Todd added 13 kills between them on .667 hitting, and Rosenthal distributed 42 assists.
“Obviously a nice performance for us. We really made progress serving, something we pride ourselves on. I thought we probably had our best serving night of the year, maybe not in terms of aces, but the efficiency was impressive,” Head Coach Charlie Wade said.
UH returns to the NCAA tournament after four consecutive national title match appearances from 2019 to 2023, winning championships in 2021 and 2022. The tournament begins on May 2 with an opening round match. All four quarterfinal matches will be played on May 8 with the semifinal round scheduled for May 10 and the finals on May 12.
Visit the UH Mānoa athletics website for more on the NCAA tournament and the Big West championship.
