Andrew Rowan of UCLA, Aidan Knipe of Long Beach State and Brett Sheward of UC Irvine should feel right at home this week at the NCAA men’s volleyball championships in Long Beach.
All three discovered the sport while growing up in Orange County, starred for their local high schools and now rank among the best collegiate setters in the country, each with a legitimate chance at leading their team to a national title.
“If you’ve got a great setter, it really does maximize the potential of everybody on the court,” UCLA coach John Speraw said. “These setters do that.”
UCLA will take the court at the Walter Pyramid as the top-seeded team in the field of eight, Long Beach State is seeded second and UCI fourth. The quarterfinals are scheduled for Tuesday, followed by the semifinals on Thursday and the championship match on Saturday afternoon.
Rowan and Sheward have already combined to win three NCAA titles, while Knipe is seeking his first after losing to Hawai’i in the championship match two years ago.
“It would be a great, great way to go out on my last match,” Knipe said.
Rowan, a 6-foot-6 sophomore who played for JSerra High, helped UCLA dethrone Hawai’i last season to secure its first NCAA title since 2006.
He earned AVCA Newcomer of the Year, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Freshman of the Year and finished third in voting for the Lloy Ball Award, which goes to the nation’s top collegiate setter.
Rowan said he relishes being the team’s conductor.
“The guy’s touching the ball, theoretically, every play,” Rowan said of the setter position. “If that one guy’s having an off night, it can throw off the whole team, so I think the setter is always one of the most important roles in regards to winning a game.”
Rowan is having another stellar season, sitting sixth in the nation in assists (1,045) and ninth in assists per set (10.15) while helping the Bruins lead the nation in attack percentage for the third straight season.
The Bruins were upset by third-seeded Grand Canyon in the championship match of the MPSF Tournament on April 20 at UCLA, but the overall body of work not only earned UCLA one of the two at-large bids into the tournament, but the top seed as well.
Speraw said not much separates the top four seeds.
“It’ll just be one play here or there that will determine who wins,” he said.
Knipe, a redshirt senior who played for Huntington Beach High School, helped Long Beach knock off UCI in the Big West Conference Tournament on April 20 in Hawai’i, securing its third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Knipe has finished among the top seven in the nation in assists per set in two of the past three seasons.
Knipe’s father is longtime LBSU coach Alan Knipe, who won national titles as a coach in 2018 and 2019 and as a player for Long Beach in 1991. Aidan has been coming to LBSU matches since before he learned to walk.
“It’s been an incredible journey and experience for our entire family,” Alan Knipe said. “It would be great to go into (Aidan’s) third and final NCAA Championships and get it done.”
Sheward won NCAA titles at Hawai’i in 2021 and 2022. He came to Honolulu from Orange Lutheran High as a setter, but moved to libero his final two seasons with the Rainbow Warriors, leading the Big West in digs in 2023.
“It’s always valuable to know someone has been there before,” UCI coach David Kniffin said. “He has won a couple of championships as part of a different team and in a different position, but he’s still been there and there’s definitely a value in that.”
Sheward said the opportunity to play setter his final collegiate season and be close to his hometown of Newport Beach were major factors in his decision to transfer to UCI.
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“And then getting a chance to experience the Irvine program with Kniff and just how he leads,” Sheward said. “It been a huge plus and something I’m really grateful for.”
Sheward made a smooth transition to the Anteaters and back to his old position this season, leading the nation in assists (1,143) and sitting second in assists per set (10.58).
Sheward helped the Anteaters knock off Hawai’i in the semifinals of the Big West Tournament on April 19, ending the season for the two-time defending champions and helping the Anteaters earn the second at-large bid into the tournament.
“I’m not sure how important winning is to Brett, but I know that competing is very important to him,” Kniffin said.