Through most of the first three months of the 2026 season, the Hawaii men’s volleyball team was ensconced in the No. 3 position, static through many wins and the occasional defeat.

The Rainbow Warriors just made a convincing argument to change that.

UH completed a rare two-match sweep of second-ranked Big West rival Long Beach State at the Walter Pyramid on Saturday, including a conversation-worthy three-set dismissal of LBSU in the second-day rematch, 25-18, 25-22, 25-20.

The last time that UH won a match against LBSU on its home floor was in 2015, when the ‘Bows swept the Beach in two Pyramid matches en route to 24 wins in Charlie Wade’s sixth season.

For Wade, more important than ending the Pyramid drought was getting off to a 2-0 start in Big West play.

UH (19-3 overall) sits alone atop the conference as it prepares to host No. 8 UC Santa Barbara (10-7, 2-1) on Friday and Saturday at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

It was a dramatic week-to-week reversal in tone from last Saturday’s sweep loss to top-ranked UCLA, in which the ‘Bows were soundly outplayed on their home floor.

“It shows what what we’ve been saying,” Wade said in a postgame video call with Hawaii media. “Not only can we be one of the best, we can be the best team.”

Defending national champion LBSU (14-4, 0-2) suffered its only other losses in a home-and-home series with UCLA. This weekend marked the first meetings between UH and LBSU since AVCA Hall of Famer Alan Knipe retired as coach and dynamic setter Moni Nikolov, the reigning AVCA Player of the Year, turned professional. Nick MacRae, the Beach’s longtime associate head coach, was elevated to succeed Knipe.

“I’m not sure if they can consider themselves better than they were last year with losing Moni,” Wade said. “They were so good, and I’m really convinced that we’re better than we were last year, but you still got to go prove it.”

A sizable contingent of UH fans were among the announced crowd of 3,723. Wade and the team spent several minutes after the match greeting the supporters that included some UH alumni.

Kristian Titriyski, who made his return from an 11-game injury absence in last week’s Outrigger Invitational, was dynamite in his return to the starting lineup on Friday in that 26-24, 23-25, 25-19, 20-25, 15-12 result, and kept it going in the rematch with the Beach. The Bulgarian opposite put down a team-high 13 kills on Friday and 11 on Saturday.

Kainoa Wade, the coach’s son who started for Titriyski to great success during his injury, reverted to serving substitution duty but contributed a key four-point service run to give UH Set 2 after it trailed 22-21.

Wade said Titriyski’s performance off the bench in the Outrigger Invitational and in practices leading up to this week’s trip justified his return to the starting lineup, noting that he was an AVCA Player of the Year candidate before a late-season injury last year.

“He can do stuff on a volleyball court that lot of humans can’t,” Wade said. “And just trying to get him back into kind of game form. He hasn’t played much obviously this year, and we’re going to need all of our really good players to play at the highest level as we come down the stretch.”

Setter Tread Rosenthal was one of a handful of players who battled through cramps in Friday’s muggy conditions at the Pyramid. The 6-foot-11 junior’s second-touch attacks were a huge factor both days as he combined for 10 kills on 14 attempts without an error. On Saturday, he became the seventh player in program history to surpass 3,000 career assists.

He and Louis Sakanoko received IV fluids ahead of Saturday’s match and had no repeat issues. Sakanoko, who hit .500 in a little more than two sets Friday before giving way to Finn Kearney, exploded for 15 on 21 swings (.619) in the rematch.

UH hit .437 to LBSU’s .218 on Saturday. Wade said a strong serve-receive outing led by libero Quintin Greenidge contributed to Rosenthal setting for such a high percentage.

Wojciech Gajek led LBSU offensively both nights with 22 kills in the five-setter and 16 in the rematch. UH held the Beach’s other two pin hitters, Skyler Varga and Alex Kandev, to a manageable percentage both nights.

Wade credited assistant coaches Kupono Fey and Donan Cruz for putting together a strong scouting report, and the players for executing it.

“A weekend like this gives us lots of confidence going into the rest of the season, and we know we can go on the road, play against the highest level of competition and play at a high level,” Wade said.

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