Outside attacker Louis Sakanoko in the biggest moment delivered one of the biggest serving runs of the season.
Sakanoko had three consecutive aces to erase an early fourth-game deficit as the No. 2 seed Hawai’i beat UC Irvine 15-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-20 in the NCAA Tournament finals on Monday in Los Angeles.
Hawai’i trailed 6-4 in the fourth game before Sakanoko had a kill to cut the deficit and then further jumpstarted the run with three straight aces to give the Rainbow Warriors the lead. Sakonko also had four kills in the final game to help Hawai’i win its first national championship since 2023.
Sakanoko finished with 12 kills and hit .500 in front of a crowd of 8,414 people at Pauley Pavilion. The outside attacker did not commit an attack error in the final two games en route to having their best attack percentage during the postseason.
Sakanoko was one of three Rainbow Warriors with double-digit kills against the Anteaters.
Opposite Kristian Titriyski had a match-high 16 kills on a .387 attack percentage, including leading all players with five kills in the final game. Outside attacker Adrien Roure added 15 kills and hit .323.
Setter Tread Rosenthal guided the Hawai’i offense to out-hit UC Irvine .410 to .253.
The Anteaters limited the Rainbow Warriors to a .167 attack percentage in their 10-point opening-game win. Hawai’i, though, rebounded and hit at least .450 in each of the final three games highlighted with a team-best .538 attack percentage in the fourth game.
UC Irvine outside attacker Andrej Jokanovic in the loss had a team-high 13 kills.
This was the first NCAA Tournament finals meeting between two teams from the same conference since 2022.
The all-Big West finals was the third time Hawai’i and UC Irvine played each other this season. Hawai’i swept a two-match road series against UC Irvine during the regular season
UC Irvine reached the finals after upsetting the No. 1 seed UCLA in the regional finals and the No. 4 seed Ball State in the semifinals.