TIFF’S TAKEAWAYS FOR #WARRIORBALL26 - WEEK 11

By Tiff Wells

1. Invaded The Bren…Twice – UC Irvine’s motto is “Defend The Bren.” That has been the case it seems against nearly all teams not named Hawai`i. Coming into the week, the Rainbow Warriors had won 10 of their last 11 matches inside The Bren Events Center. Getting off to a hot start to begin the series, UH took the opening set 25-22 as they hit .517 (17-2-29). It marked the seventh opening set win in eight road matches this year. Aces against UC Irvine’s serve receive have been hard to come by the year and in that first set, UH got two (one each from Kainoa Wade and Kristian Titriyski). Facing a 2-1 match deficit that included two red cards issued to them (one each for Tread Rosenthal and Adrien Roure), UH also saw themselves trailing 17-14 in a must win fourth set. An 11-6 close forced the winner-take-all fifth set. It’s so important in that fifth set to get off to a hot start. UH did just that. After holding leads of 5-1 and 6-2, the Bows held the 8-5 lead at the side change. A service error gave Hawai`i another three-point lead at 11-8. A 5-0 run from the Anteaters gave them a 13-11 lead. After a much needed UH side out, a service turn from Wade gave UH match point serving 13. Hawai`i would hold the advantage into deuce and cashed in on their fourth aloha ball chance (a hitting error from UCI’s Trevor Clark who came in hitting .512 on the season, the top percentage in the Big West). After a two-hour and forty-minute match, Tread Rosenthal said “I want to go to sleep.” Less than 24 hours later, the Bows looked well rested as the offense went into another gear, hitting .500 in both sets 1 and 2 to take a 2-0 match lead (25-22, 25-22). UC Irvine committed just three hitting errors through the first two sets and yet, the Hawai`i offense was just better. A 24-15 Set 3 lead was large enough as it withstood a furious 7-0 serving run (including 4 aces) from Andrej Jokanovic to win the set on Hawaiian Time, 25-22. Hawai`i is now 9-0 on the road this year after their 15th ranked win (10th against the Top 10 and fourth versus the Top 5). Series sweeps in Long Beach and Irvine puts UH right on the doorstep of a top-2 seed in the Hawaiian Islands presents the 2026 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship and on the brink of their third Big West regular season title.

2. Night Two Big West Bows – After three conference series complete, Hawai`i is the lone unbeaten team (6-0) in the Big West and holds tiebreaker advantages over Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. Entering UC San Diego Week, UH is two matches clear in the loss column of the second place Beach. Each opening match of the series has gone either four (at home versus UCSB) or five (on the road at both LBSU and UCI) sets and all have gone over two hours played. Normally the losing team comes out on night two as the more desperate team as they don’t want to be swept. Lots of credit goes to the UH coaching staff for not only providing the scout, but also the breakdown of both film and stats from night one to make the necessary adjustments in preparation for match two. Head Coach Charlie Wade has been very quick to give praise for the work done by both Associate Head Coach Kupono Fey and Assistant Coach Donan Cruz for both the initial scout and then the update of the prep ahead of match two. Hitting wise, UH has been more efficient on night two (.453 at UCI, .378 against UCSB, .437 at LBSU) than on night one (.325 at UCI, .219 versus UCSB and .288 at LBSU). It’s also been the defense for UH as those three opponents hit lower in match two (.284 for UCI, .188 for UCSB and .218 for LBSU) than on night one (.304 for UCI, .240 for UCSB and .259 for LBSU). Hawai`i is now 3-0 in the second match of these conference series, as all three wins have in straight set victories. 91-minutes (LBSU), 91-minutes (UCSB) and 88-minutes (UCI) has been the time needed for Hawai`i on night two. That combination of both offense and defense, sprinkled with the special teams play (serve receive, block touches and transition from dig to attack) has helped this group to a 23-3 overall record and be the number two team in the country across all metrics.

3. Rip ‘Em KT – Sighs of relief after a big kill, the smile after a block, the joy that comes after a big dig, it’s been noticeable just how much fun Kristian Titriyski is having after coming back from injury. With the original starting seven lineup back, Hawai`i has also seen the growth and development of their sophomore opposite. While the brute force and physicality hasn’t left, the array of shots from both hitting and serving has been on display for the Bulgarian. The reigning Big West Conference Offensive Player of the Week paced UH’s offense on night one. A team-high 16 kills on 40 swings, he hit a respectable .250 and was one of four Rainbow Warriors with 12 or more kills. Adding in two aces and a block, maybe the most impressive performance was his eight digs (two shy of recording his second season and career double-double). A six-kill on six-swing start paved the way for eight kills in the opening set on night two as it became the Kristian match. Once the dust settled, Titriyski notched his fourth career 20-kill match (20-7-29) and first of #WarriorBall26. His .448 hitting percentage nearly equaled that of UH’s for the match (.453) as the Bows hit over .400 for a 14th time this season. In the eight sets played, he had 36 kills on 69 swings. While Hawai`i has “Go Bows,” the equivalent for UC Irvine is “Rip ‘Em Eaters.”  Offensively over the weekend, Titriyski ripped the Anteaters time and time again.

4. Jordan Ruled Night 1 – In the movie The Blind Side, it was said to “run the dang ball.” On a good or perfect pass and often times in free-ball situations, many volleyball watchers will say “set the dang middle.” A connection that began as teammates with Team USA, the Tread Rosenthal to Trevell Jordan combination has flourished here in year 1 together with Hawai`i. He’s hard to miss at 6’10” but at times the Anteater block forgot all about Jordan. On night one, the sophomore recorded 12 kills on 16 errorless swings to hit for a career best .750. It was the second time this season that Jordan went for double-digit kills. He was also in on four of the 10.5 UH blocks, the ninth time this season Hawai`i had 10 or more total team blocks. UC Irvine did make the adjustment on night two to slow him down and while he was only set four times, he successfully put down all four of those attempts. With Jordan holding his middle blocker counterpart at the net, it gave many one on one situations for pin hitters Adrien Roure, Louis Sakanoko and Kristian Titriyski. The biggest ovations for plays from Jordan came…from the backrow as he also recorded three digs. Over the series, he successfully put 28 of his 29 float serves in play as UH went on numerous mini scoring runs.

5. Double-Double 2x – Less than five minutes away from The Bren Events Center is an In-N-Out. The cost of a ticket to watch Hawai`i and UC Irvine is roughly equal to the price of a double-double combo at the popular California drive-thru eatery. And fans on Friday night got to see not one, but two double-doubles recorded by UH. While UCI cooled down Adrien Roure in sets two through four, Roure put down 11 of his 12 kills in the first (six) and fifth (five) sets. While frustrated offensively, he contributed 11 digs for his first double-double of the season and second of his career. He also went 37-of-37 on serve receive. Like Roure, Tread Rosenthal was on the 15-player AVCA Player of the Year Watch List. Rosenthal should be on the semifinal list when it comes out sometime later this week and is on the short list for players under consideration for Big West Player of the Year. The five-time running BWC Setter of the Week arguably had his best all-around performance on Friday in The Bren. 53 assists and 10 digs, it was the second double-double of the season for the Junior Setter and the sixth for his career. As the match went into the fifth, he was also on a triple-double watch. He tied his career-high with nine kills and contributed six blocks in the five-set win. All-around performances were a reason why both players were AVCA 1st-Team All-America a season and should have them receiving both conference and national recognition here in 2026.

6. Roure-ing Back – AVCA 1st-Team All-America, Big West Conference 1st-Team and MVP of the 2025 Outrigger Big West Championship presented by the Hawaiian Islands. 2025 was a year to remember for Freshman Adrien Roure. Adjusting very well to both college ball and a new country, the Frenchman entrenched himself in the starting lineup as the OH-1 for Head Coach Charlie Wade. Efficient offensively in addition to the all-around game, it also gave him the chance to practice with an Italian pro team during the offseason. He started off the UC Irvine series well with six kills on seven errorless swings. Routinely facing double-blocks, Roure was held without a kill until midway through Set 4. Credit Tread Rosenthal for continuing to believe in the sophomore as Roure put down five kills in the fifth set as UH closed out UCI on night one. While it wasn’t the normal, efficient night for Roure, he didn’t allow that to affect other aspects of his game. He added 11 digs for his second career double-double and went 37-of-37 on serve receive. Tied at 20 in the second set on night two, Roure’s 4-0 run (including two aces) helped UH to put Set 2 on ice and take the commanding 2-0 match lead. Eight kills on 17 errorless swings, he hit .417 and added four digs and three blocks as UH completed the two-match series sweep at UC Irvine. Having Kristian Titriyski back as the starting opposite and with how Louis Sakanoko has developed his overall game in his Junior year, UH will be a hard team to beat when two (or all three) pins are doing well.