Check out the NCAA Tournament finals to follow today and how to follow the matches live.
No. 2 seed Hawai’i (29-5, 9-1 Big West) vs. UC Irvine (21-8, 7-3 Big West)
Match vitals: 4 p.m. in Los Angeles
Follow live: Live stats, Live video (ESPN Unlimited), Trophy presentation (ESPN+), Radio feed, TV (ESPN2)
Season series: Hawai’i leads 2-0
All-time series: Hawai’i leads 55-24
Last meeting: Opposite Kristian Titriyski had a match-high 20 kills on a .448 attack percentage as Hawai’i swept UC Irvine in April.
How they got here: Hawai’i defeated USC in the regional finals and then defeated the No. 3 seed Long Beach in four games in the semifinals. UC Irvine defeated Penn State in five games in the opening round, upset the No. 1 seed UCLA in the regional finals and then defeated Ball State in four games in the semifinals.
NCAA Tournament record: Hawai’i (14-8); UC Irvine (12-4)
NCAA Tournament appearances: Hawai’i (1995, 1996, 2002, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025, 2026); UC Irvine (2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2024, 2026)
NCAA Tournament finals appearances: Hawai’i (1996, 2002, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2026); UC Irvine (2007, 2009, 2012, 2013)
NCAA Tournament titles: Hawai’i (2002, 2021, 2022); UC Irvine (2007, 2009, 2012, 2013)
NCAA Tournament finals record: Hawai’i (3-3); UC Irvine (4-0)
Hawai’i player accolades this season: Tread Rosenthal (First-Team All-American, First-Team All-Big West); Adrien Roure (Second-Team All-American, First-Team All-Big West); Kristian Titriyski (First-Team All-Big West); Louis Sakanoko (First-Team All-American, First-Team All-Big West); Quintin Greenidge (First-Team All-Big West, All-American Honorable Mention); Justin Todd (All-American Honorable Mention)
UC Irvine player accolades this season: Will D’Arcy (First-Team All-Big West, All-American Honorable Mention); Andrej Jokanovic (National Newcomer of the Year, Second-Team All-American, First-Team All-Big West, Big West All-Freshman Team); Shane Aitken (First-Team All-American, All-Big West Honorable Mention); Trevor Clark (Second-Team All-American, All-Big West Honorable Mention); Cameron Kotsy (Big West All-Freshman Team, All-American Honorable Mention); Micah Goss (All-American Honorable Mention)
What to know: There isn’t a whole lot new to add to the scouting reports for UC Irvine and Hawai’i heading into the finals. The two teams will meet for the third time this season as they face each other in the first finals matchup since 2022 between teams from the same conference. Opposite Kristian Titriyski had a combined 36 kills in the two regular season victories against the Anteaters, including a season-high 20 kills on a .448 attack percentage in the most recent meeting. Titriyski also had a team-high 14 kills in the team’s semifinal victory against Long Beach and has double-digit kills in three consecutive postseason matches. UC Irvine reached its first finals in 13 years after limiting Ball State to a .234 attack percentage in the semifinals. Ball State entered the semifinals with a nation-best .385 attack percentage, and the Anteaters held the Cardinals had their second-lowest attack percentage of the season. Middle attacker Trevor Clark in the victory finished with a season-high 14 kills and one error on a .722 attack percentage. This was the third consecutive NCAA Tournament match that Clark had double-digit kills and hit at least .400.