UCLA and Long Beach State will meet for the NCAA men's volleyball national title on Saturday after defeating each other in the semifinals on Thursday in Long Beach, California.
No. 1 seed UCLA defeated No. 4 seed UC Irvine 22-25, 25-20, 25-16, 18-25, 15-12, and No. 2 seed Long Beach State defeated No. 3 seed Grand Canyon. defeated 24-26, 26. -28, 25-18, 25-23, 15-10.
The final will be broadcast on ESPN at 11 a.m. Saturday. Host Beach is 18-0 at home this season.
The Bruins are the defending national champions and have won 20 overall titles. The school with the second most honors is Pepperdine with five.
The Beach has won three times, last defeating Hawaii in the 2019 final. In 2018, Long Beach State defeated UCLA in five sets in the final.
On Thursday, Ethan Champlin finished with 19 kills and 13 digs for the Bruins (25-5). Cooper Robinson had 11 kills, Merrick McHenry had 10 kills and Andrew Rowan had 41 assists.
Hilil Henno had 22 kills and former Hawaii player Brett Sheward had 43 assists for the Anteeters (20-11). Nolan Flexen added 13 kills and Maxim Grigoriev had 11 kills.
In the second semifinal game, Skylar Varga had 20 kills, Sotiris Siapanis had 16 kills and Aidan Kneipp had 52 assists for the Wolverines (27-2).
Camden Gianni had 17 kills, Jarrett Anderson had 16 kills and Nicholas Slight had 50 assists for the Antelopes (26-5).
UCLA and Long Beach State met on their home court in February and won a four-set match.
In mid-March, Hawaii dominated Long Beach State, losing in five sets. The Rainbow Warriors did not play against UCLA.
Moanalua middle blocker Dearis McRaven is a junior at Long Beach State, and UCLA has freshman outside hitter Kahale Kurini from Punahou.