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Check out the men’s volleyball NCAA Tournament semifinals to follow today and how to follow the match live.
No. 1 seed Long Beach State (27-3, 8-2 Big West) vs. No. 5 seed Pepperdine (21-9, 7-5 MPSF)
Match vitals: 5 p.m. in Columbus, Ohio
Follow live: Live stats, Live video (ESPN+), Instagram in-match updates
Season series: Long Beach State leads 1-0
Last meeting: Long Beach State defeated Pepperdine in five games in January.
Last meeting in NCAA Tournament: Long Beach State defeated Peppedine in four games in the 2019 semifinals en route to winning back-to-back national championships.
All-time series: Pepperdine leads 52-49
How they got here: Long Beach State earned an at-large bid after losing in the Big West Tournament finals and then swept the No. 8 seed Fort Valley State in the NCAA Tournament. Pepperdine won the MPSF Tournament to win the conference’s automatic bid and then defeated the No. 4 seed Loyola in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.
NCAA Tournament record: Long Beach State (22-12); Pepperdine (19-13)
NCAA Tournament appearances: Long Beach State (1970, 1973, 1990, 1991, 1999, 2004, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025); Pepperdine (1976, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1984 1985, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2002, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2019, 2021, 2022)
NCAA Tournament titles: Long Beach State (1991, 2018, 2019); Pepperdine (1978, 1985, 1986, 1992, 2005)
Long Beach State player accolades this season: Moni Nikolov (Big West Player of the Year, Big West Freshman of the Year, First-Team All-Big West, Big West All-Freshman Team); Alex Kandev (First-Team All-Big West, Big West All-Freshman Team); DiAeris McRaven (First-Team All-Big West); Skyler Varga (First-Team All-Big West); Daniil Hershtynovich (All-Big West Honorable Mention)
Pepperdine player accolades this season: Ryan Barnett (First-Team All-MPSF); Cole Hartke (MPSF Freshman of the Year, First-Team All-MPSF, MPSF all-Freshman Team); Jacob Reilly (Second-Team All-MPSF); Gabe Dyer (All-MPSF Honorable Mention)
What to know: Peppedine outside attacker Ryan Barnett doesn’t intend to spend time during the match dwelling on any possible aces from Long Beach State setter Moni Nikolov. Barnett said during the prematch news conference the team has accepted that Nikolov will deliver some great serves, but the key is to move on and not let one ace turn into a lengthy service run. Lengthy serving runs from Nikolov have almost seemingly become the norm this season as Long Beach State and Pepperdine meet in the semifinals. The freshman has already set the NCAA single-season record with 97 aces and has a nation-best 0.94 aces per game average. Nikolov also had a season-high five aces in a five-game road victory against Pepperdine in January, including four aces in the decisive fifth game. Long Beach State in that victory hit .369 and enters the semifinals with a nation-best .395 attack percentage. Outside attacker Skyler Vara is among the conference leaders with a 2.76 kills per game and is in the nation’s top 15 with a .369 attack percentage. Middle attacker DiAeris McRaeven also has a career-high .466 attack percentage, including hitting more than .450 each of the last five matches entering the NCAA Tournament. Pepperdine has two pin-hitters among the national leaders in kills. Barnett is in the nation’s top 25 with a 3.67 kills per game average and a .337 attack percentage. The outside attacker also has a combined 74 kills in four postseason matches, including a team-high 17 kills against Loyola in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals. Opposite Cole Hartke is in the nation’s top 25 averaging both 3.60 kills per game and 0.47 aces per game. In addition, Hartke has multiple aces in three consecutive postseason matches highlighted with three aces against Loyola in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.
No. 2 seed Hawai’i (27-5, 7-3 Big West) vs. No. 3 seed UCLA (21-6, 10-2 MPSF)
Match vitals: 8 p.m. in Columbus, Ohio
Follow live: Live stats, Live video (ESPN+), Radio feed, Instagram in-match updates
Season series: First meeting this season
Last meeting: UCLA defeated Hawai’i in four games in the 2023 NCAA Tournament finals
Last meeting in NCAA Tournament: UCLA defeated Hawai’i in four games in the 2023 NCAA Tournament finals to win its first of two consecutive national championships.
All-time series: UCLA leads 65-31
How they got here: Hawai’i won the Big West Tournament to win the conference’s automatic bid and then defeated the No. 7 seed Penn State in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals. UCLA earned an at-large bid after losing in the MPSF Tournament semifinals and then swept the No. 6 seed Belmont Abbey in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.
NCAA Tournament record: Hawai’i (12-7); UCLA (61-10)
NCAA Tournament appearances: Hawai’i (1995, 1996, 2002, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025); UCLA (1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2016, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
NCAA Tournament titles: Hawai’i (2002, 2021, 2022); UCLA (1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2006, 2023, 2024)
Hawai’i player accolades this season: Tread Rosenthal (First-Team All-Big West); Adrien Roure (First-Team All-Big West, Big West All-Freshman Team); Kristian Titriyski (First-Team All-Big West, Big West All-Freshman Team); Kurt Nusterer (All-Big West Honorable Mention)
UCLA player accolades this season: Cooper Robinson (MPSF Player of the Year, First-Team All-MPSF); Andrew Rowan (First-Team All-MPSF); Cameron Thorne (First-Team All-MPSF); Sean Kelly (All-MPSF Honorable Mention, MPSF All-Freshman Team)
What to know: Coach John Hawks is open about just how challenging this season has been for him. Hawks returned to UCLA to become the head coach of the two-time defending NCAA champions about two months before the start of the season. The volleyball aspects of taking over a team, though, paled in comparison to everything else that came with moving from Loyola back to Southern California. Hawks has spent the last six months with his family living across the country in the Chicago area as they went through the process of buying and selling their home. It’s been a challenging year. Yet, for all the challenges Hawks is just two matches away from achieving the dream of the dream job – winning a national championship. UCLA and Hawai’i will face each other in a semifinal match between the two teams that have won the last four NCAA championships. This match will feature two of the top setters and offenses in the nation. UCLA setter Andrew Rowan is among the national leaders with a 10.09 assists per game average and guided the offense to the nation’s second-best attack percentage at .369. Hawai’i setter Tread Rosenthal has led the Rainbow Warriors to the sixth-best attack percentage in the nation at .339 and is third in the nation with a 10.65 assists per game average. Along with Rosenthal, two freshman pin-hitters have helped lead the Rainbow Warriors back to the NCAA Tournament semifinals. Outside attacker Adrien Roure is in the top five of the Big West with both a 3.07 kills per game average and a .341 attack percentage. The pin-hitter from France has double-digit kills in four consecutive matches, including 11 kills and zero errors on a .579 attack percentage in the Big West Tournament finals. Opposite Finn Kearney has double-digit kills in every match since being inserted in the starting lineup in April. Karney also had a team-high 16 kills and four aces against Penn State in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.
GO BEACH!