No. 1 seed UCLA men’s volleyball (29-2, 13-1 MPSF) saw its 2026 campaign come to an end Saturday after falling to UC Irvine (20-8, 5-5 Big West) in a five-set thriller that went to sudden death at Pauley Pavilion. The regional final match – part of the NCAA tournament’s first-ever 12-team rendition – was initially called a Bruin victory after a kill by Anteater outside hitter Andreas Brinck was called out of bounds, ending the fifth set 15-12. But after an Irvine challenge call ruled that there was a UCLA touch, the Anteaters were able to storm back to capture the frame 16-14 and eliminate the Bruins from championship contention. Assistant Sports editor Jacob Nguyen gives his five main takeaways from the Bruins’ final game of the year.
[Related: UCLA men’s volleyball loss to UC Irvine ends season, marks 1st NCAA final absence since 2022]
Who had home-court advantage?
No team is going to say they lost solely because of the crowd.
However, there’s no shame in admitting home court advantage can and should inject your team with energy.
But Pauley Pavilion may as well have been in Irvine on Saturday.
It was probably a bad sign from the start that Irvine’s band played the national anthem.
The large Anteater crowd comprised so much of the crowd’s attendance that chants of “U-C-I” and “Go Eaters” echoed throughout Pauley Pavilion. And it wasn’t until the fifth set’s most crucial moments that the Westwood faithful seemed to fire back.
And it was that kind of energy that fired up a raucous Irvine lineup and bench, drawing on its fans’ enthusiasm during timeouts and celebrating key plays, including the stretch of points that clawed the Anteaters out of a four-point deficit late in the fifth set.
I cannot speak to how much the Bruins cared about the quiet in the blue-and-gold stands, especially considering they’ve won arguably tougher games against stronger opponents in actual road environments.
But to see your home court be overrun in a tournament that’s supposed to run through you?
That must’ve been harsh.
Gargantuan Anteater pin-hitters
No one doubted that Irvine boasts a plethora of offensive weapons.
Whether it was Big West Freshman of the Year Andrej Jokanovic or San Diego Mesa College transfer Trevor Clark, setter/opposite Cameron Kosty was able to capitalize on a flurry of weapons to penetrate the Bruins’ defense Saturday night.
Irvine’s core four pin hitters – Jokanovic, Clark, Brinck and opposite William D’Arcy – boast an average height of 6 feet 8.25 inches, with Clark and D’Arcy both towering at 6 feet 10 inches.
Meanwhile, UCLA’s tallest pin hitter is redshirt junior opposite David Decker, who stands at 6 feet 9 inches. Additionally, the Bruins’ starting middle blockers consist of 6-foot-4-inch senior Cameron Thorne and 6-foot-8-inch junior Micah Wong Diallo.
Height has never been a problem for coach John Hawks’ squad, with UCLA’s middles employing impeccable timing, alien athleticism and lightning-quick reflexes to match up against any opponent. But Irvine’s ability to mistime opposing blockers and rise over the net was on full display in the NCAA regional final matchup.
The Anteater hitting core combined for 58 kills Saturday, with Clark and Brinck hitting on .400 and .400-plus hitting percentages, respectively.
Over half of Irvine’s fifth-set points came from direct pin kills, with Jokanovic delivering three and Brinck accounting for four.
And the latter’s second-to-last kill may have been the biggest play of his entire career.
Valiant send-offs
I cannot imagine what the seniors on this team are feeling right now.
I’m sure that no matter how highly one can speak of their performance against the Anteaters, nothing can erase the sting of seeing your collegiate career come to a close so suddenly.
But alas, here I am.
The departing senior trio of Thorne, outside hitter Zach Rama and setter Andrew Rowan left it all on the floor against Irvine.
After a slow first-set start in which the Bruins lost 25-23 after hitting at just a .269 clip – their worst of the night, discounting the final frame – Thorne helped open the second stanza with two back-to-back kills, giving UCLA a 5-4 lead.
In what would be a conclusion to a key theme for UCLA all season – opting for quick first-tempo strikes down the middle – Thorne garnered three of his eight kills in the second set, during which the Bruins tied up the match at a set apiece, hitting .407 across the frame.
The Hollywood, Florida, local also notched six blocks, tying the game high and proving crucial in swaying the energy back to the Bruins’ side of the net during a second set that forced seven Anteater errors.
Rama would join the festivities with 20 kills of his own on a .366 hitting percentage – his fourth 20-plus kill performance of the season. The Phoenix, Arizona, local was critical to a fourth-set surge, during which he tallied six kills to help even the match and avoid an early defeat.
And dishing to all of them was MPSF Player of the Year Andrew Rowan, who saw 57 assists on the night – his fifth 50-plus assist outing of the season and the second-most in 2026.
The box score illustrates an incredible showing.
But I doubt they care.
Can we look forward?
It’s tragic timing that I talked about this being a golden opportunity for UCLA to win it all just three days before being eliminated.
[Related: Jacob’s Wake-Up Call: Men’s volleyball has golden window for national championship]
With how good this veteran core is, it’s hard to imagine Hawks can replicate this level of success in 2027.
But if there was a star that shone on Saturday, it was sophomore outside hitter Sean Kelly.
The Manhattan Beach, California, local punched in a game-high 26 kills on a .435 clip – shattering his previous career high by four.
To rise to this level on the biggest stage in just his second year should bring just a bit of optimism to UCLA fans.
The ceiling is sky high for Kelly, and he should continue a long lineage of powerful pin-hitters, from Rama to former Bruins Cooper Robinson and Ethan Champlin.
How UCLA surrounds him with complementary pieces is the next big question Hawks must consider going into next year.
Right now, nothing else matters
When Thorne rose at the net to contest Brinck’s swing at 14-12, the out-of-bounds whistle was met with an eruption from the Bruin bench and faithful.
But when Irvine coach David Kniffin called for a challenge, the arena fell silent – everyone aware that this one review might decide the game.
So when the referee signaled to the Anteater bench, a Bruin victory slipped away by not even a literal finger tip.
Of course, the initial ruling didn’t finalize a UCLA loss.
But in what seemed like cruel irony, an out-of-bounds hit from Thorne tied the game before Brinck answered back to give Irvine game point.
And when Rama’s No. 41 attack curled leftward, it was certain.
It didn’t matter that the Bruins were coming off a fiery 25-19 fourth-set victory to force the fifth frame, nabbing 19 kills with just three errors.
It didn’t matter that the energy seemed to reverberate throughout Westwood, with hustle play after hustle play setting up swing after swing, allowing the Bruins to climb to an early 8-4 advantage in the fifth set.
And it certainly didn’t matter that several social media referees reviewed the tape to call no-touch by Thorne.
Since volleyball plays to a set point rather than a finite duration of time, all of that is irrelevant.
Perhaps this is the beauty – or curse – of volleyball.
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