UC Irvine Takes On CSUN At Big West Championship

UC Irvine Takes On CSUN At Big West Championship

April 21, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

By: Stacey Shackleford

THIS WEEK
The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2026 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship
April 23-25, 2026
Irvine, Calif. / Bren Events Center

No. 6 Seed CSUN vs No. 3 Seed UC Irvine
Thursday, Apr. 23 | 7:30 PM PT
Stats Watch

FIRST SERVE
Third seed UC Irvine opens The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2026 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship against sixth-seeded CSUN Thursday (Apr. 23) at 7:30 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.

The winner advances to face No. 2 Long Beach State Friday at 7:30 p.m.

All the matches will be streamed on ESPN+. Kanoa Leahey will be on the call with Chris McLachlin providing color commentary.

STORYLINES
UC Irvine enters the week 17-7 overall and tied for third place in the Big West standings with a 5-5 mark.

The Anteaters won the tiebreaker with UC Santa Barbara, holding the five sets to four advantage in the season series for the higher seed.

UCI is No. 5 in the national rankings.

Five of UCI's losses have come in five sets and all seven setbacks against teams in the Top 9 nationally.

UC Irvine opened the season with 11 consecutive wins, a school record for victories to start a year.

The Anteaters are third in the Big West in kills (12.34) and digs (8.17).

Middle blocker Trevor Clark leads The Big West in hitting percentage with a .519 mark.

The Anteaters enter the championship riding a two-match losing streak, dropping a five-set match at Long Beach State and a 3-1 defeat to the Beach in the season finale at the Bren last Saturday.

CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
UC Irvine is 7-7 all-time at the Big West Championship.

The Anteaters and Matadors have met twice at the Big West Championship with UCI winning 3-2 last year in Honolulu and 3-0 in 2023 at the Bren Events Center.

The Anteaters have advanced to the title match twice (2024, 2023).

UCI has claimed three conference championships while members of the MPSF (2007, 2012, 2015).

MATADOR MATCH UP
UC Irvine swept the season series versus CSUN, taking a 3-1 decision at home and a 3-0 victory in Northridge.

In the first meeting at the Bren, Andrej Jokanovic tied his career-high with 23 kills and set a new-high with 13 digs. He hit .463 (23-4-41) with four total blocks (1 solo) and an ace.

In Northridge, Jokanovic and Willian D'Arcy led UCI with 10 kills each. D'Arcy hit .500 (10-1-18), while Jokanovic fired three aces and had a match-high six digs and a block assist. Middle blocker Trevor Clark was unstoppable, hitting .778 (7-0-9) with a team-best three total blocks (1 solo). Jalen Phillips paced the Matadors both nights with 15 kills in the first and 11 in the second.

The Anteaters have won the last six meetings and are 47-37 all-time against the Matadors.

CSUN is 12-14 overall and went 0-10 in Big West matches. The 18^th-ranked Matadors have dropped the last eight outings.

Phillips leads CSUN and is ranks eighth in the country in kills (3.88) and 13th in points (4.36).

FAB FRESHMEN
True freshman Andrej Jokanovic and redshirt freshman Cameron Kosty have stepped in after veterans graduated and have made a major impact this season.

Jokanovic ranks fifth in The Big West in kills (3.50), aces (.041) and points (4.17), while also standing eighth in digs (1.51) and 12th in hitting percentage (.295).

The outside hitter has racked up the awards this season, being named AVCA National Player of the Week as well as Big West Defensive and Freshman Player of the Week on Apr. 13. He became the third UCI freshman to claim the AVCA national award (Kyle Russell, 2013 & Joel Schniedmiller, 2018) and is the 24th Anteater overall. He has been named Big West Freshman of the Week seven times this season, the most by an Anteater newcomer all-time. Jokanovic was the lone freshman on the AVCA's first Player of the Year Watch List.

Kosty averages 8.42 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 he has played in and has 37 total this year.

Freshman outside hitter Andreas Brinck has come on strong at the end of the season, recording 23 of his 39 kills over the last four matches. He posted a career-best eight kills in the first meeting with The Beach last week.

MR. D'ARCY
Senior William D'Arcy is averaging 3.05 kills, which is eighth best in the Big West. He is 14th in hitting percentage with a .289 mark.

He has recorded kills in double-figures in 18 of the last 20 matches, including a career-high 22 at BYU.

The opposite has 21 service aces and 55 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 .519 mark. He hit .600 (16-1-25) over two matches against Long Beach last week. The junior is averaging 1.92 kills and 0.95 blocks per set, which is fourth best in the Big West.

Goss is averaging 1.62 kills and 0.66 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 in a match this season.

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

Outside hitter Andon Kiriakou is fourth in the Big West with a 1.67 dig average. The junior also averages 1.34 kills and has 18 aces.

SETTING THE STAGE
Last week, UCI used the setting corps of senior Aidan Schulten and sophomore Micah Tumas.

Schulten had a career-high 28 set assists, seven digs and three kills at the Pyramid, while Tumas had a career night at the Bren, totaling 22 set assists and hitting .750 with six kills on eight swings. He also had a career-best five digs and three block assists.