UC San Diego sweeps Hawaii men’s volleyball

The fifth-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team will likely need to win the Big West tournament next week to extend its season after it was swept by UC San Diego 27-25, 25-21, 25-20 today at LionTree Arena in La Jolla, Calif.

Keoni Thiim had a team-high 12 kills for Hawaii, which finishes the regular season 22-6 overall and 5-5 in Big West play.

UH is the No. 3 seed in the BWC tournament and will open with UC Santa Barbara on Thursday in the second game of the first round.

Hawaii swept the Gauchos at home two weeks ago, winning the first match in three sets before going five on senior night.

Sebastian Lara had a match-high 14 kills and Anthony Cherfan had 13 for the Tritons (12-14, 4-6), who will play Cal State Northridge in the other first-round match on Thursday.

Long Beach State earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament with a sweep of UC Irvine tonight. The Anteaters are the No. 2 seed and will play the winner between Hawaii and the Gauchos on Friday.

UH has advanced to the NCAA final in each of the last four seasons and has won the national championship twice in that span.