THIS WEEK
No. 2 Hawaii at No. 5 UC Irvine  
Friday, Apr. 3 | 6:00 PM PT | Bren Events Center
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No. 2 Hawaii at No. 5 UC Irvine  
Saturay, Apr. 4 | 6:00 PM PT | Bren Events Center
Stats  :Watch        

FIRST SERVE
No. 5 UC Irvine will entertain No. 2 Hawaii Friday and Saturday (Apr. 3-4) at 6:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.

Note there is a large crowd expected both nights and UCI baseball is hosting UC Davis at 6:00 p.m. Friday and 1:00 p.m. Saturday at nearby Anteater Ballpark so traffic will be impacted.

STORYLINES
UC Irvine is 15-3 overall and 3-1 in the Big West, sitting in second place behind Hawaii at 4-0.

Friday marks UCI's fifth Top 5 showdown of the season with the Anteaters going 2-2 in those matches.

Hawaii won all three meetings last year. The Anteaters won twice in 2024, 3-0 in the regular season in Irvine then 3-0 at the Big West Championship at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Last week, the Anteaters beat UC San Diego, 3-0 at home and 3-2 on the road after a two week break for final exams.

Senior William D'Arcy and freshman Andrej Jokanovic lead UCI in the series sweep of the Tritons recording a match-high 11 kills at the Bren and 14 in La Jolla. Jokanovic topped the squad in digs both nights with nine in the first meeting and eight in the second.

Middle blocker Trevor Clark leads the Big West in hitting percentage at .512 and in blocks (1.09).
 
Nationally, UCI is ranked 15th in kills (12.39) and assists (11.54), 14th in aces (1.57) and 13th in hitting percentage (.311). Clark is second in attack percentage and 10th in blocks nationally.

This weekend's match feature three of the 15 players on the AVCA Player of the Year Watch List. UCI's Andrej Jokanovic joined Hawaii's Tread Rosenthal and Adrien Roure on the list.

BATTLE TESTED
UC Irvine has played in seven five-set matches in 2026, going  4-3, suffering all three of their season losses (UCLA, USC, UCSB) in five.

Against Pepperdine, UCI battled back from a nine-point deficit in the pivotal second set before closing with a 10-3 run to capture a 26-24 victory.

Last Saturday, UCI trailed 1-2, and rallied to win the final two games to secure the victory. Jokanovic led the comeback, hitting .700 (7-0-10) over the final two sets, including UCI's final two kills for the 15-13 win.

The Anteaters are 5-2 at home and 10-1 away from the Bren Center.

ABOUT THE 'BOWS
Hawaii enters the week 21-3 and leads the nation in kills (13.78). UH is second in hitting percentage (385) and assists (12.82) and seventh in aces (1.78) and blocks (2.94).

Setter Tread Rosenthal makes the team go averaging 10.97 set assists per game which is second nationally.

This week, The Big West named Kristian Titriyski Offensive Player of the Week, while Quintin Greenidge was the Defensive Player of the Week, and Rosenthal earned Setter of the Week.
Hawaii's losses came against Loyola-Chicago (1-3), Pepperdine (1-3) and UCLA (0-3).

INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS
Three French players will show their skills on the court this weekend. UCI freshman Andrej Jokanovic faces Hawaii's Louis Sakanoko and Adrien Roure. Roure and Jokanovic played together on France's U21 World Championship team.

Other UCI French connections include four-time Olympian and two-time gold medalist as well as NCAA Champion Kevin Tillie and 2024 NCAA Player of the Year Hilir Henno.
 
Starters Andon Kiriakou for UCI and Quintin Greenidge for Hawaii both hail from Canada.
 
MASKED MAN
Freshman Andrej Jokanovic leads the Anteaters and is fourth in The Big West in kill average (3.49). He ranks 10th in hitting percentage (.313) and digs (1.41) and is 11th in aces (0.35).

He has been named Big West Freshman of the Week five times. The outside hitter has recorded double-digit kills in all but two matches and each of the last 14 outings.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Senior William D'Arcy is averaging 3.12 kills, which is seventh best in the Big West. He is 12th in hitting percentage with a .296 mark.

He has recorded kills in double-figures in each of the last 14 matches, including a career-high 22 at BYU.

The opposite has 18 service aces and 46 total blocks.

THREE CLAPS
Middle blocker Micah Goss is averaging 1.64 kills and 0.58 blocks per set. The sophomore is 19^th in the Big West in aces (0.26).

He put down a career-high 14 kills in the first meeting with USC and tied his season-high in block assists with five versus USC and UCSB.

OFF THE FINGERTIPS
Cameron Kosty is sixth in the Big West with an 8.04 set assist average.

The redshirt freshman has 14 aces on the year, including eight over the last five matches. The setter has recorded at least one block assist in every match but one.

SCOOP
Shane Aitken and Andon Kiriakou lead the Anteaters from the backline. Aitken is second the Big West in digs per set with a 2.03 mark. He recorded a career-high 15 digs in the first meeting versus UC Santa Barbara.

Kiriakou is third in the Big West with a 1.64 dig average. The outside hitter is averaging 1.36 kills, recording a season-high 10 kills versus Stanford.