2026 UC Irvine Anteaters men's volleyball team

2026 UC Irvine Anteaters men's volleyball
Conference	Big West Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
Record	0–0 (0-0 Big West)
Head coach	David Kniffin (14th season)
Assistant coach	Michael Brinkley (3rd season)
Home stadium	Bren Events Center Crawford Hall
Seasons ←  2025 2027 →

The 2026 UC Irvine Anteaters men's volleyball team is the varsity intercollegiate volleyball program of the University of California, Irvine. The team's home venue is Bren Events Center located on campus in Irvine, California. They also play at Crawford Hall for smaller games. UCI has been a member of the Big West Conference since the 2017–18 season, when the league began sponsoring the sport. ^[1] UC Irvine begins the season ranked sixth in the nation. ^[2] This year is also the first year that twelve teams will have a chance to play in the NCAA men's volleyball tournament, as they've expanded to accommodate the sport's growth. ^[3]

2026 Big West Conference men's volleyball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 11 CSUN  ‍‍‍	0	–	0		–			0	–	0		–
No. 2 Hawai'i  ‍‍‍	0	–	0		–			0	–	0		–
No. 3 Long Beach State  ‍‍‍	0	–	0		–			0	–	0		–
No. 6 UC Irvine  ‍‍‍	0	–	0		–			0	–	0		–
No. 10 UC San Diego  ‍‍‍	0	–	0		–			0	–	0		–
No. 17 UC Santa Barbara  ‍‍‍	0	–	0		–			0	–	0		–
† – Conference champion ‡ – 2026 Big West Tournament champion y- Invited to the NCAA Volleyball Tournament Rankings from AVCA

Previous season

Last season, UC Irvine finished with a 21–7 record, going 6–4 in the Big West, and finishing third in the conference. They did not receive an at-large bid to the 2025 NCAA men's volleyball tournament despite being ranked fourth in the nation at the time. The Anteaters fell to eventual 2025 Big West tournament champions, Hawai'i, 1–3. ^[4] UC Irvine finished the season ranked fifth in the nation having not received a bid. ^[5]

Preseason

Preseason All-Big West Team

Source:

Both the preseason All-Big West team, and the Big West Coaches' Poll will be released on December 30, 2025.

Preseason All-Big West Team
Player	No.	Position	Class

Big West Coaches' Poll

Coaches' Poll

Pos.	Team	Points

Roster

Source: ^[6]

2025 UC Irvine Anteaters Roster [7]
	Libero /Defensive Specialists 1 Shane Atiken - RS Sophomore Setters 2 Micah Tumas - RS Freshman 15 Cameron Kosty - RS Freshman(also listed as an opposite hitter) 24 Aidan Rigg - RS Sophomore 27 Aidan Schulten - RS Junior		Middle Blockers 7 Micah Goss - Sophomore 8 Lukas Winn – Sophomore 10 Nicolas Restrepo – RS Sophomore 11 Kobe Brown – RS Sophomore 13 Beck Weber - RS Junior 19 Alec Apelian - Sophomore		Outside Hitters 6 Tim Ennis – Sophomore 9 Andrej Jokanovic – Freshman 12 Trevor Clark - Junior(also listed as an opposite hitter) 16 Aidan Cuppett – Sophomore 23 Andreas Brinck - Freshman Opposite Hitters 5 William D'Arcy – Senior 14 Andon Kiriakou – Junior

Coaches

2025 UC Irvine Anteaters Coaching Staff

David Kniffin – head coach – 14th year Michael Brinkley – assistant coach – 3rd year

Schedule

Source: ^[8]

Legend
	Anteaters win
	Anteaters loss
	Postponement
*	Non-Conference Game

2026 UC Irvine Anteaters Men's Volleyball Game Log (0–0)
Regular Season (0–0)
January (0–0) Date TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Sets Attendance Overall BWC UC Santa Barbara Invitational January 8 - vs. Harvard* No. 6 The Thunderdome Santa Barbara, California — January 9 - vs. Kentucky State* No. 6 The Thunderdome — January 10 - vs. Maryville* No. 6 The Thunderdome — January 14 ESPN+ Princeton* Bren Events Center Irvine, California — January 16 ESPN+ Pepperdine* Firestone Fieldhouse Malibu, California — January 23 ESPN+ at BYU* Smith Fieldhouse Provo, Utah — January 24 ESPN+ at BYU* Smith Fieldhouse — January 30 ESPN+ Stanford* Bren Events Center — January 31 ESPN+ Stanford* Bren Events Center —
February (0–0) Date TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Sets Attendance Overall BWC February 4 ESPN+ at Vanguard* Freed Center Costa Mesa, California — February 6 ESPN+ at Concordia Irvine* CU Arena Irvine, California — February 11 ESPN+ USC* Bren Events Center — February 13 ESPN+ & B1G+ at USC* Galen Center Los Angeles, California — February 27 ESPN+ UCLA* Bren Events Center —
March (0–0) Date TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Sets Attendance Overall BWC March 11 ESPN+ UC Santa Barbara Bren Events Center March 13 ESPN+ at UC Santa Barbara The Thunderdome Santa Barbara, California March 27 ESPN+ UC San Diego Bren Events Center March 28 ESPN+ at UC San Diego Lion Tree Arena La Jolla, California
April (0–0) Date TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Sets Attendance Overall BWC April 3 ESPN+ Hawai'i Bren Events Center April 4 ESPN+ Hawai'i Bren Events Center April 9 ESPN+ CSUN Bren Events Center April 11 ESPN+ at CSUN The Matadome Northridge, California April 17 ESPN+ at Long Beach State Walter Pyramid Long Beach, California April 18 ESPN+ Long Beach State Bren Events Center
Postseason (0–0)
2026 Big West Conference men's volleyball tournament (0–0) [9] Date TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Sets Attendance Record Postseason Record April 23/24 ESPN+ vs. TBD Bren Events Center Irvine, California *Non-conference game. #Rankings from AVCA Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific.

Rankings

Ranking movements

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AVCA	6

References

1. vinnielopes (June 1, 2016). "Big West conference to add men's volleyball starting in 2018 - Off the Block". www.offtheblockblog.com. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
2. "Check out the latest polls for NCAA & high school volleyball". AVCA. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
3. "National Collegiate MVB Championship Expanding to 12 Teams". AVCA. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
4. "The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship - The Big West". bigwest.org. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
5. "Check out the latest polls for NCAA & high school volleyball". AVCA. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
6. "2026 Men's Volleyball Roster". UCI Athletics. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
7. "2025 Volleyball Roster". UCI Sports. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
8. "2026 Men's Volleyball Schedule". UCI Athletics. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
9. https://bigwest.org/tournaments/?id=147