TIFF’S TAKEAWAYS FOR #WARRIORBALL26 - WEEK 13
By Tiff Wells
1. Be Vlad It Happened – For just the third time (2013, 1985) its 48-year program history, senior night for Hawai`i Men’s Volleyball consisted of just one person. Nearly 15,000 UH fans came through the gates for Vlad Weekend. Despite being down the setter depth chart, Vlad Kubr has been one of the most team first guys Head Coach Charlie Wade has ever had. His teammates call him dad due to being the oldest player on the team. One of the first guys in the gym and one of the last to leave, the California (Torrance) native is always there for his teammates…his brothers. It also says a lot about the character of a player that hardly ever sees the court and one that very rarely makes a travel roster when they are named a captain. Such was the case for Kubr ahead of #WarriorBall26. It’s always a tough situation for a coaching staff to get those reserve seniors on the court during their last regular season homestand, especially if the home team has a shot to win a regular season title. Kubr would be the first person to tell you that if his only two times coming in for the weekend were on night one and being a serving substitute, he’d be content. However, Head Coach Charlie Wade has something up his sleeve for Vlad’s Senior Night. About an hour before first serve of Senior Night, Kubr learned he’d be making his first UH start. Announced as the floor captain and as the final starter, the senior began the match from the service line. Fitting that on his senior night, UH started hot with leads of 4-0 and 8-1. Subbed out for Tread Rosenthal at 10-3 in Set 1, Vlad got his first curtain call and expressed his love and aloha to the crowd. With Set 4 (and the match) in hand and the outright conference regular season in their sights, Kubr came off the bench and finished out the match on the floor. He’d get all seven of his serves in play, in addition to recording his first five assists as a Rainbow Warrior on his senior night. The 4-set Hawai`i marked their 12th straight Senior Night victory and included nearly as many lei given from Coach Wade to Vlad in the senior ceremony.
2. Two Wins = BWC Outright Title – The math was simple for UH coming into the final week of the regular season. A combination of two Hawai`i wins or two Long Beach State losses would give the Bows their third Big West regular season title. A 105-minute sweep on night one earned the Rainbow Warriors a share of the title, the top seed in the conference tournament and it also improved UH to 4-0 this season following a loss. But sometimes, you want to be selfish and it just sounds a lot sweeter to be outright champions instead of sharing it with someone else. Friday’s win marked the first time since 2023 that UH would be at least co-conference champions. After The Beach beat UC Irvine, the Senior Night assignment was understood. Beat last place CSUN and be outright conference regular season champions. Outside of a sloppy second set where they lost by four that also included 10 kills from CSUN’s Jalen Phillips, the match was never really in doubt. Hawai`i held comfortable leads in the three sets they won that would set off the Vlad Night celebration. Preseason picked to finish second in the Big West (behind LBSU), UH ended conference play atop the league with a 9-1 record, one game ahead of LBSU. For the first time since 2021, UH is outright Big West Conference champions.
3. Mānoa Block Party – Locals know when you come to a party, you never come (and also never leave) empty handed. Such was the case with Hawai`i with their blocking against CSUN. The defensive tone was established in the opening set of the series as Hawai`i brought the block, recording five. UH would end the night with their 10th double-figure blocking match of the season as they out blocked CSUN 12.5 to 3.5. Ofeck Hazan set a career-high with seven blocks. Tread Rosenthal also added seven. With their ridiculous blocking advantage, the Rainbow Warriors also held the Matadors to a season low hitting percentage of .051. Lather, rinse, repeat for night two as the blocking scheme adjusted and did even better in what might have been their best defensive set of the season. 8.5 blocks gave Hawai`i a 1-0 lead in the match and when the dust settled, the Mānoa Roofing Company held the blocking advantage of 14.5 to 4. CSUN hit .073 for the match (their second lowest hitting percentage of the season). Blocks are great even late as the Bows notched their final 3.5 blocks of the match in the set. Even with UH over .315 in both matches, defense was the name of the game for the weekend as UH out blocked CSUN 27 to 7.5 and out dug them 60-38. Fans came to celebrate Vlad’s senior night and left knowing UH arguably played their best defensive weekend of the season. A good sign heading into the third part of the season…the postseason.
4. Stay Ready – Hawai`i left UC San Diego less than 100% health. There was the thumb injury to Justin Todd, a knee issue for Trevell Jordan and Tread Rosenthal battling food poisoning. With a few days to recover, Rosenthal was healthy and available. Todd was also available as he had the thumb taped and was fitted with a custom brace. Jordan entered the week with an illness and still with the knee issue, he was held out for the week. After taking a lot of swings for the past month, Kristian Titriyski was also given time to rest. We also learned that for night two, Finn Kearney was also unavailable as he was out with an illness. With the insertion of Ofeck Hazan into the middle and Kainoa Wade as the opposite, the production didn’t drop off at all. While not getting set a lot for the weekend, Hazan was a key reason as to why Hawai`i recorded 27 team blocks. After setting a career-high of seven on night one, he added five more on Saturday. He could also be in the running for Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors. A starter at opposite during the non-conference, Kainoa Wade came into the week hitting .408, good for number two in the Big West and top 10 nationally. Productive and efficient was his game for the weekend: 10-2-19, hitting .421 with an ace, six digs and a block on night one, he then one upped it on night two with a 13-2-19 line, hitting .579 with six digs and three blocks. Don’t be surprised if Wade earns Offensive Player of the Week accolades as well. With Wade going off on the right side, it allowed Adrien Roure to get back to his efficient ways (9-4-16, .312 on night one and then a season-high 17 kills on 33 swings, hitting .424). And with Kearney unavailable, it allowed Kai Taylor to make his first appearance of conference play as a service substitute. With no room for error in the postseason, everyone must be ready at a moment’s notice.
5. Home Is Where The Heart Is – Playing on the island has proven to be a very difficult place for opponents to get a win. With two wins over CSUN this past week, Hawai`i is now 147-17 inside Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. And through eight full seasons of Big West play, UH has a conference home record of 35-5. What was originally a 17-match home schedule became 19 as UH gained two additional home matches (the two-match series with BYU) after February’s NIL Tournament was cancelled in late January. Hawai`i finished the 2026 regular season with a 16-3 home record. The mecca of Collegiate Men’s Volleyball has been the place to play in. Even without the two marquee names in conference (Long Beach State and UC Irvine) coming to Honolulu this year, Hawai`i averaged 6,692 fans per match and totaled 127,148 for the 19 home matches. To put that in perspective, BYU comes in second with a total of 59,849 fans over their 16 home matches (but will go up as the Cougars host the MPSF Tournament). It could have been more had it not been for weather that wreaked havoc statewide during Outrigger Resorts Invitational week last month. To the surprise of no one, the Rainbow Warriors will finish as the NCAA leader in attendance for a 27th time (ninth consecutive) since the arena opened in 1995. Playing in The Stan and in front of the fans are two of the best memories Hawai`i players have and it’s also a highlight of the college careers of many of their opponents, as noted in their bios. But was Senior Night the last chance to see Hawai`i at home? With the field of the NCAA expanding to 12, a new format will be on display with four regionals of three teams each. It’s been said from the NCAA that the top four seeds (which Hawai`i seems to have a lock on one of those four, along with UCLA) will each host a regional, May 1-2 with UCLA hosting the National Semifinals and National Championship on May 9th and 11th respectively. We will all find out the 12-team field when it’s revealed on ncaa.com on Sunday, April 26th at 10:00 a.m. HT.
6. Next Stop…Irvine – Coming into the 60th and final conference match of 2026, all six seeds were set. All that was left to decide was whether Hawai`i would be regular season outright conference champions or would they share the title with Long Beach State. A 4-set win over CSUN on Senior Night meant UH was regular season outright conference champions for a second time in program history and first since 2021. And with them earning a share back in 2023, it’s the third Big West regular season title for the Rainbow Warriors. Hawai`i painted Irvine green as the fan base invaded The Bren in 2023 for the conference tournament and look to do the same here this week. Tickets are scarce, but head to https://ucirvinetickets.evenue.net/events/BWC to get yours.
Since the Big West sanctioned Men’s Volleyball in 2018, no team seeded lower than second has won the tournament. It’s proven quite difficult for teams that play on first-round Thursday to even make the final, as it’s happened just twice (3-seed UC Irvine in 2023 and 4-seed UC San Diego in 2021.
A tournament capsule of the six teams:
1-seed: Hawai`i – 11-3 Big West Championship record. Four-time champion (2025, 2023, 2022, 2019). 2025 MVP Adrien Roure. UH plays (5) UC San Diego or (4) UC Santa Barbara in the 5:00 p.m. PT (2:00 p.m. HT) first semifinal on Friday. In Big West tournament play, UH is 3-0 vs UCSB and 0-1 vs UCSD.
2-seed: Long Beach State – 8-5 Big West Championship record. Two-time champion (2024, 2018). LBSU plays (6) CSUN or (3) UC Irvine in the 7:30 p.m. PT (4:30 p.m. HT) second semifinal on Friday. In Big West tournament play, LBSU is 3-1 vs UC Irvine and 2-0 vs CSUN.
3-seed: UC Irvine – 6-7 Big West Championship record. Made the finals in both 2024 and 2023. Hosting the BWC Championship for the first time since 2023. In Big West tournament play, UC Irvine is 2-0 vs CSUN.
4-seed: UC Santa Barbara – 5-6 Big West Championship record. One-time champion (2021). Have had first round losses in both 2025 and 2024. In Big West tournament play, UCSB is 2-1 vs UCSD.
5-seed: UC San Diego – 3-6 Big West Championship record. Made the championship match back in 2021 and the semifinals last year. The only team to beat UH this conference season.
6-seed: CSUN – 2-8 Big West Championship record. Lost in the first round in 2025. The Matadors are the only team that hasn’t appeared in the championship match.