HONOLULU — The Big West has its marquee men’s volleyball championship matchup.

Second-seeded Hawaii hit .306 and ousted third-seeded UC Irvine, 25-21, 15-25, 25-21, 25-23 to advance to Saturday’s championship match against top-ranked and No. 1 seeded Long Beach State at the Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 7,074 (7,209 tickets issued) was on hand to see the Rainbow Warriors (25-5) stake a strong claim to an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio, should they not come away with a victory against the top-ranked Beach.

Adrien Roure put down 18 kills, opposite Finn Kearney added 10 and Louis Sakanoko put aside hitting struggles (five kills, minus-.091 efficiency) to supply six digs and seven blocks.

Middles Kurt Nusterer and Justin Todd supplied six kills and got in on seven and five blocks, respectively, as UH outblocked UCI 14.5 to 6.5.

Even with its strong resume in the top conference in the country, UH is not taking an NCAA berth for granted.

"I really want to finish my career here on a win at home," said Nusterer, a fourth-year junior who has eschewed his final season to take a job in the financial sector. "But you know, more than anything, just want to put our team in a chance to make it to the tournament, and the only way we guarantee that is by winning tomorrow."

Coach Charlie Wade attained his 317^th career victory in 16 seasons leading the program, breaking a tie with Mike Wilton. He acknowledged the feat when asked in the postgame, but seemed more focused on assessing his team's performance, which he called "just good enough."

"University of Hawaii volleyball has been iconic in the sport forever," Wade said. "It's why I came here 30 years ago, and I'm fortunate enough to lead this program. And I think when it's all said and done, I'll look back at the numbers, but you know, right now, it's we got a significant win tonight, and really want another one tomorrow."

Nolan Flexen led UCI (21-7) with 15 kills on 30 swings. Four-time All-Big West first-teamer Hilir Henno added nine kills on .111 hitting, but was an all-around threat in supplying six aces and 12 digs. He tied the NCAA career aces record.

UCI hit .234, including .107 in the fourth set. After UCI drew within 20-19, the teams sided out for the final 10 points of the set, including trading service errors on the last two points as the crowd roared.

Roure put down eight kills in the fourth.

"When you're in this team, you have some seniors like Kurt, (who) puts so much in — in practice, in games — and you know, you just want them to be able to play more games," Roure said.

Anteaters coach David Kniffin acknowledged in his postgame press conference that his team was "exhausted" coming off a five-set win in extra points against Cal State Northridge that finished close to 11 p.m. on Thursday night.

But he said UH deserved its bye from top-two standing in the Big West regular season and lauded it for its strong play at home — Nusterer in particular for his clutch serving.

He said he believes the Big West could and should get both at-large berths to the NCAA Tournament — a notion that Wade, a few minutes earlier, said he agreed with from the same table.

"Our season is still on until somebody tells us it isn't," Kniffin said. "You do the eye test right now. And the purpose of the at large committee, the selection committee, is to find the two best teams that didn't qualify through an automatic bid. The first place you're looking is the Big West."

In the postgame handshake line, UH assistant coach Milan Zarkovic warmly greeted Henno, spoke to him for several moments, took his arm and raised it high.

"What's great about Milan is that, I don't know how, but he speaks like 14 different languages," Henno said. "He talked to me in French, and ... I was bummed, obviously, because we lost a huge game. He just said words like, 'you're exceptional, like, you're the best player I've ever seen.' And that's exactly what I need to hear (in that moment)."

UH opposite Kristian Titriyski remained out with an ankle injury, his right foot in a boot. Finn Kearney continues to start in his stead.

Earlier, LBSU (27-2) stormed past fourth-seeded UC San Diego, 25-18, 25-23, 25-17, behind 14 kills from Alex Kandev and four aces from setter Moni Nikolov.

UH has three Big West tournament championships (2019, 2022, 2023) to two for LBSU (2018, 2024). UH is 2-1 against LBSU in Big West finals.

Note: This story has been updated with details and quotes.

Correction: A previous version of the story had the wrong number of career wins for Charlie Wade and Mike Wilton.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.