Hawaii clinches the top seed in the Big West tournament

The second-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team can celebrate senior night tonight already knowing when it will play next.

The Rainbow Warriors clinched the No. 1 seed in the Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship with a 25-20, 25-16, 25-16 sweep of No. 18 Cal State Northridge on Friday night at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 6,765 saw Hawaii (25-4, 8-1 Big West) earn at least a share of a Big West regular-season championship for the third time in program history and first since 2023.

UH can win the title outright with another victory tonight against CSUN (12-13, 0-9) or a loss by Long Beach State against UC Irvine.

“You win the Big West regular season, you are absolutely in the running to win a national championship,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “That is certainly our goal every year, and winning league championships in this league is hard to do.”

After tonight’s regular-season finale against CSUN, Hawaii will play Friday in the first Big West semifinal against the winner between UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego at 2 p.m.

Kainoa Wade put down 10 kills in his first start since UH’s final nonconference match in the Outrigger Invitational against Lewis and Adrien Roure added nine to lead Hawaii offensively.

Sophomore middle Ofeck Hazan set a career high with seven blocks for Hawaii, which finished the match with 12.5 blocks.

Jalen Phillips had 10 kills to lead the Matadors.

Wade hit .421 for the match with six digs and one of eight UH aces.

“Kainoa played great for two months and then kind of hit the wall a little bit,” Charlie Wade said. “He has looked great for the last week or so, so I thought it was a good entry point too. Kristian (Titriyski’s) arm is a little raw. He has been taking a lot of swings. Just an opportunity to keep everybody fresh.”

Kainoa Wade gave Hawaii some early separation with a kill and then six straight serves that included an ace in the first set.

Wade hit .500 with a team-high five kills to match Phillips, who also had five kills.

Hawaii had two aces and five crucial blocks that were the difference in taking an early lead in the match.

“You don’t get many chances in your lifetime to win championships, so when I was told at serve and pass I was going to start, I was pretty stoked,” Kainoa Wade said. “I know I can perform at this level, so I was ready to go when my number was called.”

UH led 21-14 when UH’s only senior, Vladimir Kubr, was summoned off the bench to make the fourth appearance of his two-year Hawaii career.

Kubr was in the middle of getting a standing ovation when the Matadors called timeout, eliciting a few boos from the crowd.

He received another loud ovation after the timeout and popped a serve over the net. Kubr collided with two other Rainbows on the ground going for a pancake dig and Jordan Lucas ended the rally with a kill, sending Kubr back to the bench.