A Season to Remember: Men's Volleyball 2026 Year In Review
June 05, 2026 | General, Men's Volleyball
BY THE NUMBERS
21-9 overall
No. 2 final ranking
5th NCAA title match appearance
6 All-Americans
1 AVCA National Newcomer of the Year
UC Irvine once again proved it was an NCAA powerhouse, advancing to the NCAA title match. The newly expanded championship field allowed the Anteaters a chance to prove what they could do in the postseason if given a chance. With five losses coming in five sets, all to teams ranked in the top eight, UCI was among the nation's best all season long so while many saw the Anteaters as an underdog, loyal fans that packed the Bren Events Center all season long knew better. UC Irvine ended the year third nationally in average attendance with crowds of 2,283 each match.
UCI opened the season with sweeping Harvard, Kentucky State and Maryville at the UCSB Asics Invitational. Over the three matches, UCI out-aced (25-1), out-blocked (21-4) and out-hit (.460-.010) its opponents., including hitting .580 (32-6-50) against Kentucky State, going errorless in the final two sets (20-0-34). Middle blocker Trevor Clark was impressive in his debut, hitting .783 with 18 kills in 23 swings without an error over the three matches.
UC Irvine swept No. 18 Princeton in the home opener. Outside hitter Andrej Jokanovic and Clark led UCI with nine kills each. The Anteaters held the Tigers to a .059 (22-18-68) hitting mark.
The Anteaters upended No. 3 Pepperdine on the road, 3-1. In the pivotal second set, UCI trailed by as many as nine before closing with a 10-3 run to capture the 26-24 victory. William D'Arcy hit .833 (5-0-6) with two aces in that late surge and ended the match with a 19 kills, hitting .630 (19-2-27).
The gritty Anteaters did it again when they rallied after losing the first two sets 16-25, 25-21 to win the next three 26-24, 25-23, and 15-13 in the first meeting at BYU. In a showdown of undefeated teams, UC Irvine trailed 8-12 in the fifth set before out-scoring the Cougars 7-1 to close out the match. In the final push, Trevor Clark had three blocks and two kills. Andrej Jokanovic led the team with a then career-high 19 kills.
The next night, the teams went to another deciding fifth set, this time with UCI trying to hold off the charging Cougars who won two sets after the Anteaters took the first two. D’Arcy pounded a career-high 22 kills including four in UCI’s 15-10 final set win.
After two wins over Stanford where D’Arcy had a team-high 16 kills to lead the Anteaters in each match against the Cardinal, UC Irvine beat neighbors Vanguard (3-1) and Concordia to start the season 11-0, a new school record for consecutive wins to begin a year. Jokanovic’s career-high 23 kills powered UCI in the win over CUI.
UCI would suffer its first loss of the season, falling in five to USC at the Bren Events Center. Middle blocker Micah Goss had a career-high 14 kills in the defeat. Two days later the Anteaters returned the favor, handing the Trojans their first loss of the season with a 3-1 victory at the Galen Center. USC out-hit (.417-.344) and out-dug (44-28) UCI, but the Anteaters won the service line with seven aces to USC's 2. D’Arcy had a match-high 24.5 points on 21 kills, six digs, three block assists and two aces.
After a 2-3 loss to UCLA, UC Irvine opened the Big West schedule with a 3-1 victory over UC Santa Barbara at the Bren. Libero Shane Aitken was impressive with a career-best 15 digs, while Jokanovic recorded a match-high 20 kills.
Following a five-set loss at UCSB, the Anteaters beat UC San Diego, 3-0 at home and 3-2 on the road after a two week break for final exams. In La Jolla, UCI had to battle back after being down 1-2 to win the final two games to secure the victory. After hitting .042 (17-15-47) over sets two and three, UCI rallied to hit .533 in the fourth and .412 in the fifth, not committing an error in the final game. 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. He tied D’Arcy with a team-best 14 kills.
In another heartbreaking five-set loss, UCI could not hold off No. 2 Hawaii at the Bren Events Center. Setter Cameron Kosty had a career-best 54 set assists plus six digs, three kills and a block assist. The Rainbow Warriors would win the next night as well, 3-0.
After beating CSUN twice, UC Irvine would drop the final two regular season contests against Long Beach State, including another five-setter at the Pyramid. The Anteaters would finish in a tie for third in the Big West standings with a 5-5 mark.
Third-seed UC Irvine beat sixth-seed CSUN, 3-1 in the first round of The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2026 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship held at the Bren Events Center. The Anteaters were led by freshmen Andreas Brinck and Andrej Jokanovic with 13 kills each. UCI would fall to Long Beach State in the semifinals behind Brinck's 10 kills.
UC Irvine was an at-large selection in the new-look 12-team NCAA field that started with regional rounds. The Anteaters headed to Pauley Pavilion to face Penn State and once again it came down to a decisive set 5 and an Anteater comeback. UCI trailed 3-6 before a bloody nose break sparked an Anteater comeback, scoring the next three points and tying the match. With the score tied at 13-13, consecutive kills by Trevor Clark and Micah Goss ended the match 15-13. UC Irvine out-blocked the nation's best blocking team 13.0 to 7.5, tying the team’s season-high. The middle blockers were unstoppable, committing just one error each. Goss had 10 kills, hitting .692, while Clark had 10 kills hitting .562. Clark hit .625 in the fifth set with five kills and no errors in eight swings. Each player also added five block assists. D’Arcy paced UCI in kills with 13 and tied his career-high with five block assists.
Next, UCI would battle No. 1 UCLA and once again it would be a dramatic ending, in fact the most dramatic of them all. In the fifth set, the Bruins would move in front 8-4. A 5-1 Anteater run fueled by two Jokanovic kills and three UCLA errors tied the set at 9-9. Three straight points landed UCLA at match point 14-12. Head coach David Kniffin issued a challenge of a touch after a ball sailed long halting the Bruin celebration when the call was overturned and play continued. With the score now at 13-14, the Anteaters would take advantage of two UCLA attack errors and a kill by Brinck to complete the upset and advance to the semifinals. Brinck hit .483 (17-3-29), putting down four of his team-best 17 kills in the fifth set. The outside hitter also recorded a career-high seven digs.
UCI returned to Pauley Pavilion to take on fourth-seeded Ball State in the first of two semifinals. Fueled by several buses of Anteater students, UC Irvine advanced to the NCAA Championship match with a 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 27-25, 25-19) victory over the Cardinals. Jokanovic topped the UCI offense with 18 kills. Clark was impressive, hitting .722 and tying his career-high with 14 kills. Brinck added 13 kills plus a career-tying seven digs and three block assists.
UCI played in their fifth national championship match, but after a first set victory, the Anteaters could not hold off No. 2 Hawaii who won 3-1. UCI hit .562 (10-1-16) and had seven blocks in the first frame, while Hawaii hit .167. The 'Bows went on to hit .410 for the match to UCI's final .253. UC Irvine had a season-high 18 blocks, tied for most in the country in a four set match this season.
Honors
AVCA National Newcomer of the Year
Andrej Jokanovic
AVCA All-America
Shane Aitken, First Team
Trevor Clark, Second Team
Andrej Jokanovic, Second Team
William D’Arcy, Honorable Mention
Micah Goss, Honorable Mention
Cameron Kosty, Honorable Mention
All-Big West
William D’Arcy, First Team
Andrej Jokanovic, First Team, Freshman Team
Trevor Clark, Honorable Mention
Shane Aitken, Honorable Mention
Cameron Kosty, Freshman Team
Big West Freshman of the Year
Andrej Jokanovoc
NCAA All-Tournament Team
Trevor Clark, Andrej Jokanovic
Big West Offensive Player of the Week
William D’Arcy – Jan. 19, Jan. 26
Big West Defensive Player of the Week
Trevor Clark, Jan. 26
Andon Kiriakou, Feb. 9
Andrej Jokanovic, Apr. 13
Big West Setter of the Week
Cameron Kosty, Feb. 9, Apr. 13
Big West Freshman of the Week
Andrej Jokanovic – Jan. 19, Jan. 26, Feb. 9, Feb. 16, Mar. 16, Apr. 6, Apr. 13
