THIS WEEK
No. 5 UC Irvine at No. 3 Long Beach State  
Friday, Apr. 17 | 7:00 PM PT | LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid
Stats  Watch 
 
No. 3 Long Beach State at No. 5 UC Irvine  
Saturday, Apr. 18 | 6:00 PM PT | Bren Events Center
Stats   Watch 

FIRST SERVE
No. 5 UC Irvine closes out the regular season with a pair of matches with No. 3 Long Beach State. The Black & Blue rivals meet Friday (Apr. 17) for a 7:00 p.m. match at LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid then return to the Bren Events Center Saturday (Apr. 18) for a 6:00 p.m. match at the Bren Event Center.

UCI will celebrate graduating seniors William D'Arcy, Beck Weber and Aidan Schulten following the match Saturday.

STORYLINES
Seeding for the Big West Championship is still up in the air as we enter the final week of the season. The top two seeds receive a bye into the semifinals.

Hawaii sits on top with 7-1 mark followed by Long Beach State at 6-2, UC Irvine at 5-3, UC Santa Barbara at 4-5, UC San Diego at 3-6 and CSUN 0-6.

On the schedule besides the Black & Blue rivalry, Hawaii hosts CSUN for two matches and UCSB and UCSD will face each other Saturday in their lone match of the week.

The Anteaters are 17-5 overall, with all five losses coming to teams in the top 8.

The Anteaters are third in the Big West in kills (12.54), assists (11.69) and digs (8.00).

UC Irvine has played in eight five-set matches in 2026, going  4-4, suffering four of their five season losses (No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Hawaii, No. 5 USC, No. 8 UCSB) in five. 

The Anteaters are 6-4 at home and 11-1 away from the Bren Center.

Freshman Andreas Brinck made his fourth career start last Saturday and had a career-high seven kills. He added three digs in each match against CSUN and came off the bench on Thursday to tally six kills.

INCROYABLE
Freshman Andrej Jokanovic racked up the awards this week, being named AVCA National Player of the Week as well as Big West Defensive and Freshman Player of the Week. The outside hitter became the third UCI freshman to claim the national award, joining Kyle Russell in 2013 and Joel Schniedmiller in 2018 and is the 24th Anteater overall.

It is the seventh time this season he had been tabbed top freshman, the most by an Anteater newcomer all-time.
 
He averaged 4.71 kills, 5.71 points, 2.71 digs, 0.71 blocks and 0.57 aces in a series sweep of No. 18 CSUN. The outside hitter started the week, putting away a match-high 23 kills, which tied his career-high and set a new career-high in digs with 13, his third career double-double. He also added four total blocks (1 solo) and an ace at the Bren Center then in the second meeting at Northridge, he shared the team lead with 10 kills, six digs and three aces.

Jokanovic ranks second in The Big West and 16th nationally in points (4.32), while also standing sixth in hitting percentage (.317), third in kills (3.62) and fourth in aces (0.43).

BEACH LOWDOWN
The Beach is 20-4 overall with two losses coming to UCLA and two at the hands of Hawaii.

Long Beach State enters the week with a six match-winning streak. They are 12-3 at home and 7-1 on the road.

The teams split a pair of 3-0 matches last year with each winning on the other's home court.

In the game at Long Beach, William D'Arcy was impressive, hitting .692 with nine kills and no errors on 13 swings. He also added three digs and two blocks. The next night, in front of a sold-out crowd at the Bren Events Center, LBSU out-hit UCI .424-.286 for the victory.

The Beach lead the nation in aces (2.38) and are second in blocking (2.70). Alex Kandev leads the Big West and is third nationally in aces with a 0.56 mark.

KOSTY HONORED AS BIG WEST SETTER OF THE WEEK
Redshirt freshman Cameron Kosty was named The Big West Setter of the Week for the second time this season.

Kosty averaged 11.57 set assists in two wins against the Matadors, guiding the Anteaters to a .389 (99-20-203) hitting percentage over the series. He tallied 49 set assists in the first match and 32 in the second, while hitting .500 with six kills, three blocks, two digs and an ace for the week.

On the season, Kosty averages 8.55 set assists per set, which is sixth best in the Big West.

He has 16 aces and 52 kills on the year.  The setter has recorded at least one block assist in all but two matches and has 37 total this year.
 
SAVVY SENIOR
Senior William D'Arcy is averaging 3.17 kills, which is eighth best in the Big West. He is 12th in hitting percentage with a .309 mark.

He has recorded kills in double-figures in each of the last 18 matches, including a career-high 22 at BYU.

The opposite has 21 service aces and 52 total blocks.

IN THE MIDDLE
Middle blockers Trevor Clark and Micah Goss have been a force at the net. Clark leads the Big West in hitting percentage with a .511 mark. He hit .778 (7-0-9) in the second match with CSUN. He is averaging 1.93 kills and 0.99 blocks per set, which is fourth best in the Big West.

Goss is averaging 1.64 kills and 0.65 blocks per set. The sophomore recorded five block assists in the first meeting with the Matadors, the fourth time he has logged five block assists this season.

DEFENSE
Libero Shane Aitken leads the Anteaters and is second in The Big West with a 2.00 mark. He recorded a career-high 15 digs in the first meeting versus UC Santa Barbara.

Outside hitter Andon Kiriakou is third in the Big West with a 1.67 dig average, followed by Jokanovic in eighth at 1.49 digs per set.

BIG WEST ON THE HORIZON
The Bren Events Center will host The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2026 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship April 23-25, 2026.