UC Irvine won its fourth NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship in the last seven years. The Anteaters previously won in 2007, 2009 and 2012.
This is the 28th overall NCAA Division I Championship for UC Irvine overall.
UC Irvine head coach David Kniffin is just the second coach in the 44-year history of NCAA men's volleyball to coach a team to the NCAA Championship in his first season.
UC Irvine is the first school to win back-to-back NCAA Championships since UCLA in 1995 and 1996.
UC Irvine, which swept USC in the final a year ago, is the first school to sweep in the NCAA Championship match in back-to-back years since UCLA in 1982 and 1983.
UCI joins UCLA, Pepperdine and USC as the only programs to have won four titles.
UC Irvine is now 4-0 in NCAA championship matches and 8-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
UC Irvine's Connor Hughes was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. He joined Chris Austin, Michael Brinkley, Collin Mehring and Kevin Tillie on the All-Tournament Team. Hughes, Austin and Tillie were selected for the second consecutive year.
UCI was 25-7 overall, the second most wins in the country this season. UCI finished second in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) with an 18-6 mark.
The Anteaters' 25 wins this year are fifth most in a season, while the 18 league wins were third.
The Anteaters began the year ranked No. 1 and ended the year ranked No. 1. UCI was ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 for 13 of 17 weeks.
UC Irvine was 21-0 on the year when producing more kills than its opponent and 25-0 when out-hitting its opponent.
UCI had 17 blocks in the title match, the second most in a match this season.
The Anteaters hit .500 against Loyola in the semifinals, their second-best hitting percentage on the year.
Sophomore libero Michael Brinkley had 290 digs this season which was third on UC Irvine's single-season digs list.
Kevin Tillie and Michael Brinkley were named first team All-Americans, while Collin Mehring was a second team All-American selection.
Tillie and Brinkley were also named to the All-MPSF first team, while Mehring and Scott Kevorken were named to the second team.
UCI started the season by winning the UCSB Invitational where Collin Mehring was named MVP.
Jeremy Dejno was named AVCA National Player of the Week on Jan. 8, while Kyle Russell garnered the award on April 9.
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