Jordan Lucas got a hero’s welcome. Now the gay volleyball player heads back to where it all blew up.
Jordan Lucas was given a hero's welcome in Hawai'i over the weekend. Now he and CSUN must return to the court where it all started. The post Jordan Lucas got a hero’s welcome. Now the gay volleyball player heads back to where it all blew up. appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
Jordan Lucas was given a hero’s welcome at the University of Hawai’i over the weekend, as his CSUN men’s volleyball team was on the road for a two-game Big West series.
Talking to Outsports shortly after his team’s arrival back in Los Angeles on Sunday night, Lucas said that when his name was called for the CSUN Matadors line-up — as No. 2, he’s announced first — the Hawai’i crowd overwhelmed him with cheers.
“It was pretty surreal,” Lucas told Outsports. “The entire arena erupted. I started to tear up. I never cry. It was pretty crazy.”
Lucas was already going to be showered with love as he has family in Hawai’i. Yet he said he was surprised by the level of love he felt from the crowd, with people wanting to talk with him and grab photos.
With over 200,000 new Instagram followers in just the last week, men’s college volleyball has rarely had a sudden, break-out star like Jordan Lucas.
“I feel loved,” Lucas said. “I’m just happy that men’s volleyball is finally getting some attention. It’s all in a positive light for the sport.”
That positive light in the coming days will be covered by no less than the New York Times, CNN, NBC, CBS and others. Lucas said he has been truly overwhelmed by the response to his flamboyant on-court presence.
Jordan Lucas and CSUN next play UC-Irvine on that same court
The CSUN men’s volleyball team has received its schedule for the Big West conference men’s volleyball tournament. And wouldn’t you know it.
For the first round, the CSUN Matadors will be right back at UC-Irvine, playing UC-Irvine, where a UC-Irvine broadcaster suggested punching Lucas in the face.
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As for the Matadors’ first-round Big West conference men’s volleyball tournament, there’s nothing nefarious going on here, in case people who don’t know much about sports stumble across this post. The host team and city are pre-determined months or years before. And the schedule is based on results and statistics.
It just so happens we’ll get CSUN versus UC-Irvine at the Anteaters’ home court less than two weeks later.
In case you aren’t aware, UC-Irvine volleyball commentator Charlie Brande said he was “amazed” that Jordan Lucas hadn’t been punched in the face — he used the term “popped” — for his “antics” on the court.
Those “antics” were brief celebrations by him that didn’t fit into stereotypical, masculine norms.
After Charlie Brande shared his distaste for Lucas’ brief celebrations on the court, the Big West conference made it clear that Lucas didn’t even come close to unsportsmanlike conduce and Lucas now has over 200,000 followers on Instagram.
Plus, Lucas is still playing and Brande is no longer a volleyball commentator for UC-Irvine volleyball broadcasts.
Lucas turned a positive note about returning to that court to play against that team.
“When I found out that we’d match up against them, I thought, what a full-circle moment,” Lucas told Outsports, saying he’d heard interest in the match had skyrocketed.
Men’s sports in 2026 are simply way less tolerant of views that denigrate athletes because of their perceived masculinity, femininity, orientation or self-expression.
CSUN has struggled of late, though the Matadors have also faced the best teams in the country. A top-25 team, CSUN is seeded sixth of six teams in the Big West conference tournament.
In the last couple weeks they lost two matches to No. 5 UC-Irvine and two matches to No. 2 Hawai’i. The conference is loaded, and the Big West conference tournament will feature some of the best teams and players in the country.
CSUN has embraced Lucas and the national attention he has garnered since Brande’s fateful comments.
The NCAA men’s volleyball tournament has expanded from eight teams to 12 teams this year, giving CSUN a bigger opportunity to make it to the tournament. However, CSUN hasn’t won a match this season in the Big West conference, going 0-10 against Hawai’i, Long Beach State, UC-Irvine, UC-Santa Barbara and UC-San Diego.
If they want to make the NCAA tournament, that will have to change.
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The post Jordan Lucas got a hero’s welcome. Now the gay volleyball player heads back to where it all blew up. appeared first on Outsports.
