NCAA men’s volleyball: Will it be a Long Beach State-UCLA rematch?
The dynasty is back with a new head coach, the nation’s top-ranked team has revenge on its mind and a program with a proud history is more of a Cinderella this time around.
The 2025 NCAA men’s volleyball tournament doesn’t lack for storylines.
When the quarterfinals get under way Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, third-seeded UCLA will be trying do something no program has done in more than 40 years – win three straight national titles.
Top-seeded Long Beach State, which has been the nation’s No. 1 team for the majority of the season, wants to make up for coming up short against the Bruins in last year’s final on its home court.
Fifth-seeded Pepperdine, which has more NCAA championships than any men’s volleyball program outside of Westwood, wasn’t expected to be part of the eight-team field this week but punched its ticket by upsetting UCLA and USC on its way to the MPSF Tournament title.
UCLA (20-6) will be the first team to take the court Thursday, when the Bruins and new head coach John Hawks square off with No. 6 seed Belmont Abbey (17-8) at 8 a.m. PT. UCLA is chasing its 22nd national title and is trying to become the first team to win three in a row since the Bruins won four in a row under longtime coach Al Scates from 1981-84.
Hawks, who took over when John Speraw left to become the president and CEO of USA Volleyball, was an assistant to Speraw for seven seasons spending two seasons leading Loyola-Chicago. Hawks returned to Westwood and inherited an experienced core with junior outside hitter Cooper Robinson, junior setter Andrew Rowan, junior libero Matthew Aziz and junior outside hitter Zach Rama all back.
MPSF Player of the Year Robinson, Rowan and junior middle blocker Cameron Thorne all earned first-team All-American honors this season, and Rama was a second-team pick. If the Bruins can avoid the service game errors that occasionally plague them, a three-peat certainly seems possible.
Long Beach State (27-3) faces No. 8 seed Fort Valley State (16-9) in the 2 p.m. quarterfinal. Vying for its first title since going back-to-back in 2018 and 2019, LBSU had a 20-match winning streak earlier this season and has spent the past 14 weeks ranked No. 1.
Long Beach lost nearly its entire starting lineup from 2024 but quickly found its groove with a lot of new faces. Junior opposite hitter Skyler Varga and senior middle blocker DiAeris McRaven are the holdover starters, with outside hitters Alex Kandev (freshman) and Sotiris Siapanis (senior), middle blockers Ben Braun (junior) and Lazar Bouchkov (sophomore), opposite hitters Daniil Hershtynovich (sophomore) and Nato Dickinson (senior) and record-setting freshman setter Moni Nikolov making up the core of a deep roster.
Long Beach leads the nation in hitting percentage (.396) and aces per set (2.21), ranks second in blocks (2.69) and kills (13.26) and fourth in assists per set (12.17).
With what is believed to be the fastest recorded serve in NCAA history, Big West Player of the Year Nikolov has set program and conference single-season records with 94 aces this season. He is six shy of tying the national record.
Both Siapanis and Hershtynovich have missed time with injuries this season, but if they’re both healthy, Long Beach will be tough to beat. LBSU won both of its matches against UCLA this season (both in February), but there is one team in the field that has a winning record against the top seed this year.
No. 2 seed Hawaii (26-5), which faces No. 7 seed Penn State (15-15) in a 10:30 a.m. quarterfinal, won two of its three matches against rival Long Beach last month, though all of those matches were played in Honolulu, including the Big West Tournament final.
Hawaii has a younger roster that many figured was a year away from threatening to return to the top of the sport, but the Rainbow Warriors have been impressive of late. In addition to the wins against Long Beach, Hawaii went 3-0 against UC Irvine, which is likely the best team not in the field this week.
Sophomore setter Tread Rosenthal and freshman outside hitter Adrien Roure are first-team All-Americans, while freshman opposite hitter Kristian Titriyski earned second-team recognition. A healthy Titriyski makes a big difference for Hawaii, though whether the Warriors can recreate their home-court mojo on the mainland is always a question.
Five-time national champion Pepperdine (20-9) faces fourth-seeded MIVA champion Loyola-Chicago (25-3) in Thursday’s last quarterfinal (4:30 p.m.).
First-team All-American outside hitter Ryan Barnett ranks in the Top 25 nationally in four statistical categories for the Waves: aces per set, hitting percentage, kills per set and points per set. The redshirt junior recorded double-digit kills in 21 of the 22 matches he played in, including a season-high 23 in the MPSF title match against USC.
Pepperdine could have its hands full with MIVA Player of the Year Parker Van Buren, who hit .410 while leading the nation’s No. 2 hitting team (.368).
Thursday’s winners advance to Saturday’s semifinals with the title match scheduled for Monday (4 p.m. PT).
NCAA TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
(All matches at Ohio State, all times PT)
Quarterfinals, Thursday
No. 3 seed UCLA (20-6) vs. No. 6 seed Belmont Abbey (17-8), 8 a.m.
No. 2 seed Hawaii (26-5) vs. No. 7 seed Penn State (15-15), 10:30 a.m.
No. 1 seed Long Beach State (27-3) vs. No. 8 seed Fort Valley State (16-9), 2 p.m.
No. 4 seed Loyola-Chicago (25-3) vs. No. 5 seed Pepperdine (20-9), 4:30 p.m.
Semifinals, Saturday
LBSU-Fort Valley winner vs. Pepperdine-Loyola winner, 2 p.m.
UCLA-Belmont Abbey winner vs. Hawaii-Penn State-Daemen winner, 5 p.m.
Championship match, Monday
Semifinal winners, 4 p.m. (ESPN2)