{"id":1810,"date":"2026-05-07T15:27:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810"},"modified":"2026-05-07T15:27:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:27:54","slug":"uc-irvine-mens-volleyball-stuns-top-seed-ucla-to-reach-ncaa-semifinals-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810","title":{"rendered":"UC\u00a0Irvine men\u2019s volleyball stuns top seed UCLA to reach NCAA semifinals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The NCAA men\u2019s volleyball semifinals are going to have a distinctively Big West Conference flavor.<\/p>\n

Read more Clippers face plenty of questions after a strange season<\/a><\/p>\n

UC\u00a0Irvine stunned top-seeded UCLA in five sets on Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion, 25-23, 19-25, 25-23, 19-25, 16-14, to advance to the national semifinals next Saturday against No. 4 seed Ball State.<\/p>\n

Third-seeded Long Beach State (25-4) and second-seeded Hawaii (28-5) gave the Big West two more spots in the final four and will square off for the fourth time this year in the other semifinal next Saturday at Pauley Pavilion. Long Beach, the defending national champion, swept Loyola of Chicago, and Hawaii outlasted USC in a four-set match.<\/p>\n

Ball State (26-4) denied Pepperdine (24-7) a spot in the semifinals with a five-set win.<\/p>\n

UCLA (29-2) held a match point at 14-12 in the fifth set before UCI (20-8) rallied for the final four points of the match, two on kills by Andreas Brinck. UCLA thought it had scored the match winner, but a challenge of a touch kept the set going and UCI took advantage of a pair of Bruin attack errors along with Brinck\u2019s kills.<\/p>\n

Brinck led UCI, an at-large entry in the 12-team field, with a career-high 17 kills, while Trevor Clark and Andrej Jokanovic each added 14. Setter Cameron Kosty a team and career-high six total blocks (one solo) to go with 47 assists, six digs and three kills.<\/p>\n

Sean Kelly had 26 kills and two aces to pace UCLA, which had won two of the past three NCAA titles, reached the 2025 final and was the favorite to win again this year with the chance to play all of its NCAA matches in Westwood.<\/p>\n

UCLA held the advantage in hitting (.388-.292), digs (48-39) and blocks (8-6) but couldn\u2019t deny the Anteaters their eighth trip to the NCAA semifinals. UCI snapped its 12-match losing streak against the Bruins and became the first team to beat the Bruins on their home court since LBSU did it on Feb. 12, 2025.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Big West Tournament champion Long Beach swept Loyola, 25-21, 25-21, 25-10, at the Pyramid behind Skyler Varga (14 kills, two aces), Connor Bloom (12 kills) and Wojciech Gajek (nine kills). Jake Pazanti orchestrated the offense with 36 assists, while Kellen Larson anchored the backcourt with a career-best 20 digs.<\/p>\n

Read more Lawrence Frank wants to get Clippers back to \u2018contender status\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

LBSU hit .369 as a team, nearly identical to Loyola\u2019s .371, but the separation came in serve pressure, reception quality, and error distribution. Long Beach produced eight service aces compared to just one for Loyola (21-9), and those aces came during high-leverage runs that created multi-point separation. The hosts\u2019 sideout efficiency climbed as the match progressed, peaking at 75 percent in the third set, which eliminated extended scoring runs by Loyola.<\/p>\n

USC (20-8) was eliminated by Big West regular-season champion Hawaii in four tight sets, 25-22, 24-26, 25-23, 32-30 at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.<\/p>\n

Dillon Klein had 16 kills and three blocks for the Trojans, while Sterling Foley added 13 kills and three blocks. Wesley Smith contributed five kills and six blocks, Parker Tomkinson had six kills and two blocks, Cooper Keane had six kills and three blocks, and setter Andrew Chapin turned in a career-high 35 assists.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

USC and Hawaii endured 19 ties and neither side led by more than two points before the hosts won a tight third set, then the Rainbow Warriors survived an extended battle in the fourth to clinch the victory. It took 62 rallies to complete the decisive set, and USC trailed 20-13 before battling back to knot the score at 23-all. The Trojans took a brief 25-24 lead and saved five match points before a pair of errors ended the match.<\/p>\n

MIVA champion Ball State fought off Pepperdine, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 19-25, 16-14, despite 23 kills from the Waves\u2019 Cole Hartke in Noblesville, Ind.<\/p>\n

The Waves hit just .070 in the first set, but bounced back to level the match. The teams were tied 11 times in the third set, but the Cardinals made the final push to take control of the match. Pepperdine then dominated the fourth set, outhitting the hosts .484 to .200, to extend the match. There were eight ties and four lead changes in the final set, and the Waves had a set point at 14-12, but Ball State pulled even then won the match with consecutive aces.<\/p>\n

Andrej Polomac had 56 assists for Pepperdine, which was outhit .347 to .297 and outblocked 17.5-15.<\/p>\n

Read more Report: Aspiration co-founder cooperated with NBA investigation of Clippers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Third-seeded Long Beach State sweeps Loyola of Chicago and No. 2 Hawaii outlasts USC in four sets to give the Big West three teams in the final four. No. 4 Ball State defeats Pepperdine in five sets for the other spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-verified-news"],"yoast_head":"\nUC\u00a0Irvine men\u2019s volleyball stuns top seed UCLA to reach NCAA semifinals - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UC\u00a0Irvine men\u2019s volleyball stuns top seed UCLA to reach NCAA semifinals - Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Third-seeded Long Beach State sweeps Loyola of Chicago and No. 2 Hawaii outlasts USC in four sets to give the Big West three teams in the final four. No. 4 Ball State defeats Pepperdine in five sets for the other spot.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-07T15:27:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ed10e2e835557ec484457b6e725f5cc7.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=1810#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=1810\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7\"},\"headline\":\"UC\u00a0Irvine men\u2019s volleyball stuns top seed UCLA to reach NCAA semifinals\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-07T15:27:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=1810\"},\"wordCount\":758,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=1810#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ed10e2e835557ec484457b6e725f5cc7.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Verified News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=1810#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=1810\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=1810\",\"name\":\"UC\u00a0Irvine men\u2019s volleyball stuns top seed UCLA to reach NCAA semifinals - Silicon Valley Moving Post\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=1810#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=1810#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ed10e2e835557ec484457b6e725f5cc7.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-07T15:27:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=1810#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=1810\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=1810#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ed10e2e835557ec484457b6e725f5cc7.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ed10e2e835557ec484457b6e725f5cc7.webp\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":576},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=1810#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UC\u00a0Irvine men\u2019s volleyball stuns top seed UCLA to reach NCAA semifinals\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Silicon Valley Moving Post\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UC\u00a0Irvine men\u2019s volleyball stuns top seed UCLA to reach NCAA semifinals - Silicon Valley Moving Post","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UC\u00a0Irvine men\u2019s volleyball stuns top seed UCLA to reach NCAA semifinals - Silicon Valley Moving Post","og_description":"Third-seeded Long Beach State sweeps Loyola of Chicago and No. 2 Hawaii outlasts USC in four sets to give the Big West three teams in the final four. No. 4 Ball State defeats Pepperdine in five sets for the other spot.","og_url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810","og_site_name":"Silicon Valley Moving Post","article_published_time":"2026-05-07T15:27:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ed10e2e835557ec484457b6e725f5cc7.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7"},"headline":"UC\u00a0Irvine men\u2019s volleyball stuns top seed UCLA to reach NCAA semifinals","datePublished":"2026-05-07T15:27:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810"},"wordCount":758,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ed10e2e835557ec484457b6e725f5cc7.webp","articleSection":["News","Verified News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810","url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810","name":"UC\u00a0Irvine men\u2019s volleyball stuns top seed UCLA to reach NCAA semifinals - Silicon Valley Moving Post","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ed10e2e835557ec484457b6e725f5cc7.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-07T15:27:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ed10e2e835557ec484457b6e725f5cc7.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ed10e2e835557ec484457b6e725f5cc7.webp","width":1024,"height":576},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=1810#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UC\u00a0Irvine men\u2019s volleyball stuns top seed UCLA to reach NCAA semifinals"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/","name":"Silicon Valley Moving Post","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com"],"url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}