A rematch over two years in the making could be telling of what may soon be a dogfight.

And a shootout may exactly be what happen as No. 3 seed UCLA men’s volleyball (21-6, 10-2 MPSF) prepare to face No. 2 seed Hawaiʻi (27-5, 7-3 Big West) on Saturday evening at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio, for the NCAA tournament semifinals. UCLA enters the matchup having swept No. 6 seed Belmont Abbey in the quarterfinals, while Hawaiʻ’i defeated No. 7 seed Penn State in four sets in its first-round affair.

The last time the Bruins and the Rainbow Warriors squared off came in 2023 when the former defeated the latter in the national championship.

Although it’s been two years since that last contest, UCLA returns a roster headlined by four 2025 AVCA All-Americans – three of whom contributed to the program’s 20th NCAA title. Among the trio is junior setter Andrew Rowan, whose 60 assists against Hawaiʻi have been matched just one time since.

Nonetheless, the three-time AVCA First Team All-American selection has continued to develop alongside his outside hitter duo redshirt junior Cooper Robinson and junior Zach Rama.

In UCLA’s quarterfinal victory over Belmont Abbey, Rowan posted 37 assists across three sets, helping produce a combined 24 kills for the pin-hitting duo on .529 and .476 hitting percentages, respectively.

While the Rainbow Warriors aren’t unfamiliar to these returning Bruins, new faces give first-year coach John Hawks new tricks to pull out of his sleeve.

Freshman outside hitter Sean Kelly has proved valuable in replacing senior Ido David, who has been in and out of the rotation because of injury and will most likely play as a serving specialist in the tournament. Just two years ago, the outside hitter/opposite led the squad in its championship game with 23 kills, but looks to be a non-factor here.

Kelly, a 2025 All-MPSF Freshman Team selection, has posted double-digit kills in seven of his last nine outings, with his last two performances featuring .400-plus hitting clips.

UCLA may need to rely on momentum going into its upcoming semifinal appearance to stymie a Hawai‘i team looking for vengeance from the 2023 finals.

Across three sets in the quarterfinals, the Bruins outscored the Crusaders by 25 points and held them under 20 points in two of the three frames. Additionally, the Bruins held a double-digit advantage in kills, blocks and assists.

Contributing to this success was junior middle blocker Cameron Thorne, whose six-block performance marked the seventh time he’s achieved such measure.

Throne’s two-way skillset – hitting at a .526 percentage and ranking 11th in the nation in blocks per set with 1.09 – may be vital to building a Bruin lead and mitigating the Rainbow Warriors’ attack, one spearheaded by 6-foot-11-inch setter Tread Rosenthal.

The 2025 AVCA First Team All-American selection ranks third in the nation in assists per set and has led Hawai‘i to the sixth-best hitting percentage in the country.

Receiving his passes is outside hitter Adrien Roure. The second 2025 AVCA First Team All-American ranks third in the country in kills per set but garnered just five kills and a -.038 hitting percentage against Penn State in the quarterfinals.

Notably, neither Rosenthal nor Roure were in college yet at the time of the last UCLA and Hawai’i matchup, meaning precedence is no easy indicator of repeated victory.

Hawai‘i might have all the motivation in the world to avenge its national championship loss two years ago, defeating No. 1 seed Long Beach State twice in the final five matches of the season.

But roster upheaval and new faces on both sides of the court will most likely make this a tightly-contested affair, incomparable to the one that took place in 2023.

Regardless of who wins, one of the squads will have the opportunity to face the winner of No. 1 seed Long Beach State and No. 5 seed Pepperdine for the chance to crown themselves the 2025 national champions.