After a highly competitive season across The Big West that saw all six seeds up for grabs heading into the final day of the regular season, the bracket has been finalized with Long Beach State holding the top line as The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship.
The national No. 1 since mid-January, LBSU (26-2, 8-2 Big West) claimed the outright regular-season title after sweeping through 10th-ranked UC San Diego in their weekend finale. LBSU has now claimed back-to-back-to-back regular-season titles and their sixth in the seven seasons that men’s volleyball has been a conference-sponsored sport.
Long Beach State will be looking to repeat on O’ahu, claiming victory in 2024 as the top seed in The Big West Championship after downing second-seeded UC Irvine. The Beach went on to finish as national runners-up. LBSU enjoys a bye into the semifinal round of the bracket and will await the winner of the No. 4/5 match.
The No. 4 seed belongs to UC San Diego (17-11, 3-7 Big West) and the Tritons will tussle with fifth-seeded UC Santa Barbara (12-15, 3-7) to open the event on Thursday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. HT.
UCSD, UCSB and CSUN all found themselves knotted in the standings for seeds four through six. With idential combined records against their foes, UC San Diego was able to grab the tiebreaker by virtue of percentage of sets won in their regular-season series’ against the tied teams to claim fourth. UCSB earned the fifth seed based on head-to-head record against the Matadors to complete out the bracket.
The Tritons were four-set victors in both March matchups against the Gauchos. However, in the postseason UCSB has won both meetings – 2023’s first round and 2021’s championship match. The winner will advance to the semifinal round to take on LBSU. The Beach is a combined 4-0 against the Tritons and Gauchos this season, with three wins in sweeping fashion.
Host Hawai’i (24-5, 7-3 Big West) enters The Big West postseason as the second seed, also claiming a place in Friday’s semifinals. Interestingly, two of the Rainbow Warriors’ three Big West Championship have come from the No. 2 position in the bracket, both in Hawai’i with LBSU as the No. 1 seed. UH is set for a date between the winner of Thursday’s No. 3/6 contest.
Fourth-ranked UC Irvine (20-6, 6-4 Big West) settled into the No. 3 seed in the bracket, and will face off against CSUN (18-10, 3-7 Big West) in the first round, a rematch of the final weekend of the regular season. UCI came away with two wins, but the Matadors pushed the Anteaters to the brink on Saturday before rallying for the five-set win. The two have met just once in the postseason in the 3/6 match in 2023, where UCI advanced to the finale as Championship host. The UC Irvine versus CSUN first-round matchup will be Thursday’s nightcap, set for first serve at 10 p.m. PT/7 p.m. HT.
UH took both regular-season home matchups against the Anteaters by 3-0 scores. CSUN was able to down the ’Bows in three on April 4 before UH rebounded the next night to even the score.
Friday’s semifinal round will see LBSU open the night versus either the Titans or Gauchos at 7:30 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. HT. Hawai’i takes to the court in the second semifinal at 10 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. HT with both winning sides squaring off in Saturday’s championship match.
Three Big West squads have hoisted the trophy since 2018: defending champion Long Beach State (2018, ’24), Hawai’i (2019, ’22, ’23) and UC Santa Barbara (2021). A top-two seed has taken the title in each Championship with one No. 3 (UC Irvine, 2023) and on No. 4 (UC San Diego, 2021) finishing as runners-up.
The Championship final will take place on April 26 at 10 p.m. PT/7 p.m. HT, with the victor gaining The Big West’s automatic entry into the field of the 2025 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship.
The selection show for the national championship is set for 10 a.m. PT/7 a.m. HT next Sunday, April 27, on NCAA.com, with national postseason play from Columbus, Ohio, slated for May 10-12. The powerhouse Big West has finished the year with at least one national finalist in every year of sport sponsorship, with four national titles since 2018.
All five matches inside the Stan Sheriff Center will be produced by Spectrum Sports and air on that channel in Hawai’i and on ESPN+ on the mainland. Kanoa Leahey will be on the call with storied coach and fellow Hawai’i native Chris McLachlin providing color commentary. Pregame, intermission and postgame shows will feature analysis from Scott Robbs, James Anastassiades and Ryan Kalei Tsuji.
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS PRESENTS THE 2025 OUTRIGGER BIG WEST MEN’S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
First Round – Thursday, April 24
Match 1 | 7:30 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. HT | No. 4 seed UC San Diego vs. No. 5 seed UC Santa Barbara
Match 2 | 10 p.m. PT/7 p.m. HT | | No. 3 seed UC Irvine vs. No. 6 seed CSUN
Semifinals – Friday, April 25
Match 3 | 7:30 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. HT | | No. 1 seed Long Beach State vs. Match 1 winner
Match 4 | 10 p.m. PT/7 p.m. HT | No. 2 seed Hawai’i vs. Match 2 winner
Final – Saturday, April 26
Match 5 | 10 p.m. PT/7 p.m. HT | Championship Match
