UCLA Men's Volleyball Beats Hawaii, Wins 20th NCAA Championship
After 17 long years, the Bruins are back on top.
No. 1 seed UCLA men's volleyball (31-2, 12-0 MPSF) bested No. 2 seed Hawaii (29-3, 9-1 Big West) in the NCAA championship match Saturday in Fairfax, Virginia, winning three sets to one (28-26, 31-33, 25-21, 25-21). It snapped a nearly two-decade title drought, and the Bruins took home their first national championship since 2006 as a result.
UCLA has now won 20 national championships in men's volleyball – more than any other school.
As was expected, though, the Rainbow Warriors put up quite the fight.
Hawaii was one of two teams to beat UCLA all year, and they won the NCAA title in both 2021 and 2022. Even though the Bruins ground out a win in the first set, the Rainbow Warriors pushed them to the limit in the second and wound up tying the score at 1-1 after a grueling 64 points.
From there, UCLA and senior opposite hitter Alex Knight wrestled back control.
Sophomore opposite Ido David led the way with a season-high 23 kills, while Knight tied his career high with 15 to go along with two aces. Hawaii actually led the third set early, but Knight smashed home a pair of kills to help UCLA go up 14-12.
David ended that set to put the Bruins up 2-1, riding the momentum of a few kills from redshirt senior middle blocker J.R. Norris IV.
Norris, who came off the bench, also played a major role in giving UCLA a lead in the fourth set. Norris came through with two early aces that broke an 8-8 tie, and he added two more that made it 22-16 later on.
Junior outside hitter Ethan Champlin ended the match with a kill of his own, handing the Bruins the title in the process.
The win marked a fitting end to a historic season for UCLA.
UCLA finished undefeated in conference action for the first time since 1995 and its 31 wins are the most it had this century.
David, Champlin, redshirt junior middle blocker Merrick McHenry and freshman setter Andrew Rowan were AVCA first-team selections. Knight, meanwhile, won Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament.
Coach John Speraw was named MPSF Coach of the Year and American Volleyball Coaches Association Men's Division I/II National Coach of the Year after leading UCLA to its first MPSF title since 2006.
Speraw had previously won three national championships as the head coach at UC Irvine, plus three as an assistant and two as a player with the Bruins. The longtime coach as brought his alma mater back to the pinnacle of the sport, and he got to celebrate with his players in the confetti Saturday evening.
The men's volleyball squad has now secured a second national championship for UCLA Athletics this calendar year. Women's soccer won the first, and women's beach volleyball could make it three on Sunday in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
UCLA has 121 total NCAA championships all-time, second only to Stanford.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF UCLA ATHLETICS