UC Irvine was strong in the first set (and Hawaii had tons of errors). After that the game was relatively close but Hawaii went on a couple long runs that put each set out of reach for Irvine. And of course Hawaii has only one senior — they'll be good for a while.
Not only is it an All-Big West championship match between UC Irvine and Hawai'i, but it's the first time in 14 years we won't have a back-to-back champion.
Here are the teams in the 2026 Acrisure Series according to Jon Rothstein:
So this a big deal if it's being reported by the NYT right? I mean, Russell has always been the "Big" factory, and since he barely played in Florida, I guess Rioux wanted guaranteed minutes and a big role. 0.6 points, 0.5 rebounds, and 0.1 assists with little time won't get you to the NBA, even if you're 7'9. Welcome to Irvine, Olivier!
Tread and Andrej were no-brainers when it came to these picks. Wade probably would've won coach of the year, but with Long Beach upsetting Hawaii in the BW Championship, it going to MacRae made sense.
The game was super electric to be at! Sucks for Hawaii fans to fly out and not win it all (especially because it was literally in your grasp), and sucks for Irvine fans because the Beach won in their home court. Will this fuel a LB repeat or a Hawaii comeback story??
I don't know how they determine golf for the actual NCAA playoffs, but good for Cal Poly securing the auto bid. Madison Le of Long Beach State performed the best individually, and was -8. I believe she will receive an automatic bid to the individual tournament. Davina Xanh of CSUF was -7. Perhaps they both get in? Again, not sure how they determine, but good luck to them!
The 2026 BW Beach Volleyball Championship will be hosted at Cal Poly's Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex. Here's the seeds:
Cal Poly is a shoe-in for an at-large bid if by some chance they don't win the tournament, but should be somewhere around the 5 seed.
LBSU has had a bit of an up and down season, and is on the bubble — they haven't necessarily done well against top 10 teams, but otherwise they perform well. If they make the championship and there aren't any bid-stealers, it's possible they get in as one of the last at-larges.
Hawai'i is on the outside of the bubble. They had a great win over UCLA in the beginning of the season, and then they haven't had a good showing for much of the rest of the season. I don't see a way they make it to the tournament unless they win the championship.
The same applies for the rest of the conference. None of the other schools had a marquee win (nor do I think they had a top 20 win). I do think Davis and CSUN are better than Sac State and Bakersfield however.