UCLA gets a four-set win over UH to claim 2023 Men’s Volleyball National Championship

FAIRFAX (HawaiiNewsNow) - 20 Minutes from our Nation’s Capital in Fairfax, Virginia, Hawaii’s campaign for a third National title came to an end.

The incumbent ‘Bows fell to UCLA in a four-set thriller.

Hawaii looked to make history against one of their storied rivals.

In the first set, Hawaii and UCLA looked equal on both sides of the net, going point for point.

However, the Bruins would ultimately won 28-26.

In the second, Hawaii was down by 19-13 at one point, on the verge of giving up the set, but Hawaii showed immense grit to grind their way back into it.

One of those points came from setter Jakob Thelle, who notched his 122nd career ace and became Hawaii’s all-time career leader.

“Heart of a warrior.” Head coach Charlie Wade told reporters. “You know, I mean, they really battled and played like champions, and there’s just, there’s a lot of fight in him.”

Hawaii would have 7 set points before finally taking the set 33-31.

UCLA would take set three, and in the fourth, Hawaii, on the verge of a loss, kept battling to the very end but would fall in the set.

Crowning the Bruins as the 2023 National Champions.

“I didn’t know the result.” UH’s Dimitrios Mouchlias said. “We might win, we might lose, but all I knew is that if I give 100%, I’ll just be proud of myself, I’ll have no regrets, and that’s what we did. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result we wanted.”

“The brotherhood that we have built over the years, the culture of brotherhood and excellence.” UH’s Jakob Thelle said. “That’s something you can never take away from what we have done, and that’s more important than the results that we achieved.”

UH ends the year with a 29-3 record, saying aloha to seniors Jakob Thelle, Dimitrios Mouchlias, Cole Hogland, Kanai Akana, Filip Humler and Devon Johnson.

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