UC San Diego sports sought to break records and make historic postseason runs in their penultimate year in the Big West. The UCSD Guardian’s Sports section has the rundown on standout teams from this year.

Women’s basketball — Kelly Chen, Contributing Writer

Women’s basketball (24-9, 17-3 Big West) began the 2025-26 season with a rocky 4-4 record — not the best start for a team looking to go back-to-back as Big West champions.

However, any uncertainty about the team’s potential immediately faded when conference play began. Led by senior guards Makayla Rose, Sabrina Ma, redshirt junior guard Rosa Smith, and junior center Erin Condron, UC San Diego went 17-3 in the conference, won the Big West regular season, and earned the No. 2 seed in the Big West Championship.

With an excellent culmination to conference play, the team used that energy going into the Big West semifinal against No. 3 seed UC Davis. Combined with Ma’s 21-point game and a 16-point bench boost from freshman guard Lev Feiman, the Tritons secured a spot in the Big West Championship final against No. 4 seed Hawai’i. The game got off to a sluggish start, but after the half, junior guard Dymonique Maxie tied the game, with UCSD finally finding its offensive rhythm. That rhythm led the Tritons to prevail over Hawai’i; UCSD punched a ticket to March Madness and took its second straight Big West title.

The Tritons’ March Madness run ended in a loss to TCU in the round of 64. UCSD will enter next season without key starters like Ma and Rose; Condron, Maxie, and Feiman will be returning next year to continue the electric run. The Tritons look to not only become Big West champions again but to go even further than the round of 64 in March Madness next year.

Men’s basketball — Sam Propst, Senior Staff Writer

Coming off of a historic run the previous season, the 2025-26 men’s basketball team (23-11, 12-8 Big West) had big shoes to fill. With previous associate head coach Clint Allard debuting as the team’s new head coach and a roster comprised of 10 new players, the Triton team looked vastly different from last year’s.

Kicking off the season with a seven-game win streak, including a sweep at the Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational, the Tritons were unstoppable, and making it to the Big West Championship final again felt guaranteed — that is, until conference play kicked off in January. On the first day of the month, the Tritons fell to Cal Poly and began trading wins and losses for the next 11 games.

A key component to the Tritons’ lineup was redshirt junior forward Leo Beath, who was stuck in a cold streak. Over the course of conference play, Beath’s field-goal percentage dropped from 53.5% to 33.7%. It was a bleak month for the Tritons; between sloppy shots and an abundance of turnovers, the Tritons went 4-10 in January.

After shuffling players in and out of the starting lineup, the Tritons finally got their groove back on Feb. 12, when a win against the Aggies jumpstarted a five-game hot streak. After graduate student guard Emanuel Prospere II was out with an injury, freshman guard Hudson Mayes took his place in the starting five, cementing himself as a leader. With the help of junior guard Tom Beattie, who led the team with 3.4 assists per game, and redshirt junior Bol Dengdit — named Honorable Mention All-Big West along with Mayes and Beath — all the pieces clicked, and the Tritons’ shooting rut was over.

Finishing the regular season ranked fifth with a conference record of 12-8, the Tritons advanced to the Big West Championship. After pulling off a second-half comeback against Cal Poly during the opening round, the Tritons advanced to the quarterfinals, where they went up against Cal State Northridge. For the third time in the season, the Tritons fell to the Matadors, ending their postseason run.

After another round of heartbreaking exits and exciting new additions through the transfer portal, the Tritons have one more chance to win the Big West before switching over to the West Coast Conference for the 2027-28 season.

Swimming — Rosalie Mikha, Staff Writer

Swimming dove into the 2025-26 season at home with the Triton Invitational, finishing third for both women and men. That rhythm carried through the regular season as the Tritons earned decisive wins over UC Davis, Pepperdine, and UC Santa Barbara, capped off by a standout performance at the Utah Tech Trailblazer Invitational, when the men bested two teams and the women placed second among eight.

After a dominant regular season, the four-day Big West Championship kicked off in Houston on Feb. 11. The women went on to collect 10 gold medals, breaking five Big West records in the process. The men earned two, bringing the Tritons’ combined total to 25 podiums across four days. Despite record-setting success, their lack of a dive team hindered the Tritons’ chances at the Big West titles. UCSD came in fourth for women and third for men, slipping slightly from last year’s second‑ and fourth‑place finishes.

Senior Chloe Braun and juniors Asia Kozan and Eva Boehlke represented UCSD at the NCAA swimming championship in the 100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard freestyle, and 200-yard individual medley. Braun cemented a legacy for the Tritons, placing 16th in the 100-yard breaststroke preliminary round to score UCSD’s first‑ever point at the national championship.

The Big West is set to discontinue its sponsorship of swimming and diving, effective July 1 of this year, leaving UCSD swimming without a conference home. Despite a solid season and only two years in the Big West, the future is uncertain for Triton swimming.

Men’s volleyball — Rosalie Mikha, Staff Writer

In his first and only season at UCSD, junior opposite hitter Sebastiano Sani anchored men’s volleyball’s (13-14, 3-7 Big West) offensive charge throughout the season. He led the team this season in kills, aces, and digs, with a 129-kill gap over the runner-up. Along with returning Tritons like redshirt junior outside hitter Leo Pravednikov, Sani built on the success of last season — which featured an 18-12 season, semifinal appearance in the Big West Championship, and three All-American mentions — despite a largely different roster.

The Tritons concluded this season ranked No. 11 in the final AVCA Poll — one spot below last year’s finish. With a 3-7 conference record, No. 4 seed UCSD challenged No. 5 seed UC Santa Barbara in a familiar first round of the Big West Championship, a rematch of last season’s five-set quarterfinal. The Tritons swept the Gauchos once again and moved onto a semifinal battle against No. 1 seed Hawai’i. Although No. 11 UCSD previously upset No. 2 Hawai’i 3-1 at LionTree Arena on April 11, the Tritons wouldn’t repeat their success. UCSD’s season ended in a 3-1 loss. The Rainbow Warriors fell to Long Beach State in the final of the Big West Championship, but went on to win the NCAA championship.

With nine departing athletes, head coach Brad Rostratter will once again look to rebuild the Tritons’ baseline. Seven incoming freshmen, including two players from overseas, bring new technical approaches and international experience to UCSD’s roster as it pushes toward  postseason success.

Softball — Adrian Garcia, Contributing Writer

Softball kicked off its (23-28, 12-15 Big West) 2025-26 season with an electric run, winning 10 of its 11 games across two sets of tournament play. The team’s early spark faded in the next two away tournaments when it was unable to fully piece together its offense and defense. The Tritons failed to win a game throughout that span and entered conference play with an even 10-10 record.

The Tritons proceeded to snag a majority of their series from Big West teams, including wins against UC Davis and Cal State Northridge. The team’s performance paved the way for an appearance in the Big West Championship, where it secured the No. 6 seed. UCSD’s championship run came to an abrupt halt after falling short to No. 3 seed UC Santa Barbara and No. 5 seed Long Beach State in its first two games of the double elimination tournament.

Sophomore first baseman Maalia Cherry led the team with 15 home runs and 50 runs batted in. She ended the season with an impressive .348 batting average across 50 games and was named to the All-Big West First Team. Defensively, the Tritons relied heavily on freshman pitcher Callie Howard to pitch dominant outings and escape perilous predicaments. This season, Howard boasted a 3.88 ERA — the lowest on the team — and continuously delivered quality outings across her team, leading with 108.1 innings pitched.

Although entering postseason play in a similarly seeded fashion, UCSD improved from last season’s 16-32 record to an overall record of 23-28. The team put up an impressive fight this season and seeks to build on it to win a title in the coming year.

Baseball — Addison Hwang, Contributing Writer

Baseball (27-28, 18-12 Big West) put on a thrilling 2026 campaign. In just their second year of postseason eligibility, the Tritons displayed immense resilience, finishing third in the Big West Conference.

Their dynamic offense provided a major advantage all season. In mid-March, UCSD established a season high of 17 runs on 15 hits, powered by five home runs, to edge out CSUN 17-16 and secure the series sweep. UCSD also showcased its bats during a seven-double home game win over Hawai’i on April 2 and a 15-run deluge against No. 2 seed Cal Poly on April 19.

Building off this regular-season drive, the Tritons advanced to their first-ever Big West Championship appearance in Irvine, which kicked off on May 20. After closing a tight 1-0 opening game to No. 2 seed Cal Poly on May 21, UCSD defeated No. 5 seed Cal State Fullerton 5-1 on May 22 to secure the program’s first-ever Division-I postseason win. On May 23, the Tritons dominated No. 1 seed UC Santa Barbara 7-0 before they crushed Cal Poly later that night to force a winner-take-all final the next day. Though the Tritons narrowly lost the championship game 4-3 to Cal Poly on May 24, this historic run represents a massive step forward for the UCSD program.