Hawai‘i men's volleyball advances to NCAA Final Four with thrilling victory over USC

MĀNOA — A sellout crowd showed up at the Stan Sheriff Center for Saturday's NCAA Tournament match between the University of Hawai‘i men's volleyball team and USC, the first time the Rainbow Warriors hosted a contest with national championship implications on its home floor.

In total, 9,943 fans passed through the turnstiles for the contest between the Rainbow Warriors and Trojans, setting a new NCAA Tournament record for men's volleyball. The previous record of 9,822 was also set at the Stan Sheriff Center in the 1998 championship match between UCLA and Pepperdine.

On Saturday, both teams treated the record crowd to a match fitting for the occasion, with the 'Bows prevailing in a 25-22, 24-26, 25-23, 32-30 thriller. The Trojans staved off six match points from the Rainbow Warriors before the home team eventually advanced to next week's Final Four.

"Congratulations to USC on a great season and a very hard, hard fought match," head coach Charlie Wade said following the match. "Thanks to the NCAA for allowing us the opportunity to host, and certainly to our admin for doing such a great job of hosting what was a fun weekend of volleyball. And, I have to thank the fans. It's really a historic event for us to have the largest crowd in NCAA men's volleyball postseason history."

Inspired by their home crowd, the Rainbow Warriors were largely in control during the first set, jumping out to a 23-16 lead. The feisty Trojans did not give up the first set easily, going on a 4-0 run to force Wade to call a timeout. The 'Bows put the finishing touches on their 1-0 advantage on a Kristian Titriyski kill.

Titriyski hammered a match-high 19 kills in his NCAA Tournament debut. The sophomore was sidelined with a leg injury in the 2025 NCAA Tournament run for the Rainbow Warriors that ended in the national semifinals. In a conversation with setter Tread Rosenthal before the match, Titriyski made sure to soak the moment in.

"I was telling him, 'I haven't played in (an NCAA Tournament) yet.' I'm really happy to play in the NCAAs, to win a game," Titriyski said. "It's a different feeling, especially when you start the tournament at home with a full gym. Everyone's supporting you. You can't even hear your own thoughts. I'm pretty thankful for that, and I appreciate the fans so much, because they're giving us those powers. ... They're always there for us just helping us and the seventh player outside the court helping us all the time."

In Set 2, it was the Rainbow Warriors who gave the Trojans trouble to end the stanza, as USC had a 24-22 lead but were pushed to deuce. The Trojans recollected themselves and took the last two points to even the match at 1-1.

The third set was tight throughout, with neither team leading by more than two throughout. With the 'Bows up 24-23, Rosenthal, the Big West Player of the Year, served a ball that USC's Johnny Dykstra dug off the video board, securing an important 2-1 lead for UH.

Hawai‘i gained separation in the fourth set with a prolonged service run by Adrien Roure. The 'Bows found themselves up 20-15 by the end of it, but the Trojans again clawed back to force deuce. In total, Roure's finished with seven service aces.

The Rainbow Warriors never trailed at the end of the fourth set, but the pesky Trojans didn't allow UH to get the two-point lead it needed until the set reached the 30s. USC's run reminded UH players and coaches alike to the contest it played a week prior in which it had five match points against Long Beach State but couldn't close things out against The Beach.

"There's so many people watching you, and they just give you a boost of energy," Roure said. "We kind of had the same issue against Long Beach, I think we were kind of scared it's going to happen again, but I'm really happy we stayed calm and managed to win."

An attack error by USC's star player, Dillon Klein, finally gave the Rainbow Warriors the victory.

Klein punished the Rainbow Warriors in a victory at the Stan Sheriff Center in 2025. On Saturday, he had 16 kills, but needed 39 swings.

USC's season ends at 20-8, while Hawai‘i marches on to the Final Four at 28-5.

"One or two more points go our way, it's a different result," USC head coach Jeff Nygaard said in his postgame press conference. "It's heartbreaking, and in this moment, it's probably the most emotional thing that we could possibly have. ... I don't want to admit it's over. I'll probably be in shock for a while, but couldn't be happier about the character, culture and how our team fought the entire year."

Fans of both teams were in attendance, though Hawai‘i's fans far outnumbered USC's. Both fanbases cheered when the arena's public address announcer told the crowd that UC Irvine had shocked No. 1 UCLA in its region. The announcement was made between Sets 1 and 2 between the Rainbow Warriors and Trojans.

The Rainbow Warriors will play their chief rival, Long Beach State, in the second national semifinal on May 9 at 3:30 p.m. HST at UCLA's Pauley Pavillion. In the first semifinal, UC Irvine will take on Ball State. The winners of both semifinals will meet in May 11's national championship match.

"It was important for the growth, the development of such a young team (to reach the Final Four in 2025) and this is still a young team," Wade said of his squad, which only features one senior in Vladimir Kubr. "We know we have the pieces. We know we can play to be champions, and we're two matches away from proving it."

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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.