Long Beach State seized control early then cruised to a 25-17, 25-20, 25-22 volleyball victory over Hawaii on Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 1,492 witnessed the 10th-ranked Rainbow Warriors’ match, which probably should have come with a warning for unacceptable viewing for Warrior fans.

The 49ers scored nine points in a row to take a 9-1 lead in the first set. They jumped to leads of 5-1 and 12-4 in the second set. In the third set, the 49ers led 15-10 at the intermission before the Warriors rallied to tie it at 15. It was 24-22 when UH opposite Brook Sedore served long on aloha ball.

"Hopefully, this is the last day we ever play like this," UH outside hitter Siki Zarkovic said after the match. "Tomorrow is another day. We’re going to play better."

The Warriors opened the match with a double block, then stumbled over obstacles the rest of the way.

LBSU setter Connor Olbright relied on an off-speed delivery to serve eight points in a row. For the match, 12 of Olbright’s 20 serves resulted in 49er points.

"Our team has really been working on blocking this week," Olbright said. "I was putting them in a position where our team could block balls."

The 49ers amassed 61/2 of their 121/2 blocks in the first set.

"I thought we did a good job of keeping pressure on, and not making errors early," 49ers coach Alan Knipe said. "I thought our serve-receive was really good. That kept us really comfortable. Runs are an important part of the game. You want them to go in your favor. I thought our guys did a pretty good job as far as keeping their serves on the guys we wanted to, and obviously keeping a lot of pressure by not missing a whole lot."

And with the cushions, Olbright was able to spread the offense.

Taylor Crabb, a Punahou graduate and the nation’s best volleyball player last year, slammed 12 kills, including five launched from behind the 3-meter line.

Crabb is generously listed at 6 feet. But with a 40-inch vertical jump, he is able to survey the defense before unleashing line drives.

"He’s a really good player," UH coach Charlie Wade said.

Opposite Ian Satterfield powered eight kills without an error. Andrew Whitt contributed six kills. Middle blockers Jeff Ornee and Taylor Gregory each had six kills.

"When you get that separation early, the setter gets free run to do whatever," Wade said. "They obviously became a lot harder to defend because everybody is available."

Wade, meanwhile, scrambled for answers. Zarkovic, usually one of the Warriors’ most consistent players, exited early in the first set after three of his swings resulted in no kills and two errors.

"It was my off day," Zarkovic said. "I think my game was not what I expected."

Wade said: "It’s never really happened where Siki starts off playing poorly. It kind of rattled everybody. We didn’t know quite how to handle it."

Kupono Fey replaced Zarkovic, finishing with seven kills. Sedore, who struggled in the two previous matches, led UH with 16 kills.

Jennings Franciscovic started the second set at setter. Outside hitter Hendrik Mol was brought in to steady the defense. Davis Holt started in place of middle blocker Nick West, whose left hand was in a soft cast because of a fracture.

UH also tried different tactics. When setter Joby Ramos was in the front row, middle blocker Taylor Averill hit from the right pin.

"We’re still trying to work on things," Wade said. "It’s early in the year. We want to add some stuff to the offense, and try to get more people involved."

Thursday
Long Beach State def. Hawaii 25-17,
25-20, 25-22
Pepperdine def. Southern Cal 28-26,
25-22, 25-22, 26-24
Cal Baptist def. UC San Diego 25-15,
20-25, 25-22, 23-25, 20-18
Today
Long Beach State at Hawaii, 7 p.m.
Stanford at UCLA
Pacific at UC Santa Barbara
BYU at UC Irvine

Service Aces — Long Beach State 4 (Crabb 2, Gregory, Whitt). Hawaii 5 (Sedore, Holt, Olsen, Mol, Fey).  Service errors — Long Beach State 10 (Olbright 3, Satterfield 2, Whitt 2, Ornee, Crabb, Ensing). Hawaii 12 (Sedore 4, Olsen 2, Fey 2, Zarkovic, Holt, Timmer, Franciskovic). Assists — Long Beach State 37 (Olbright 33, Sato 2, Ornee, Crabb). Hawaii 33 (Ramos 16, Franciskovic 13, Sedore, Averill, Kanetake, Fey). T — 1:40. Officials — Daphne Nelson, Dickson Chun. A — 1,492.