No. 5 Hawaii hit the road for the first time and the road hit back hard. Despite career highs by freshmen Rado Parapunov, Austin Matautia and Patrick Gasman, the Rainbow Warrior volleyball team saw its best start since 1996 come to a screeching halt at the hands of No. 4 Long Beach State, 23-25, 21-25, 25-23, 33-31, 15-10, on Wednesday night.

Opposite Parapunov put down 23 kills in his first start, outside hitter Matautia 16 and middle blocker Gasman 12 with just one hitting error, but it was not enough over 2 hours and 46 minutes at The Walter Pyramid. The Warriors (5-1, 0-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) lost to the 49ers (5-1, 2-1) for a third straight time.

Long Beach got 24 kills from sophomore Kyle Ensing, 22 from sophomore TJ DeFalco and 12 from senior middle Bryce Yould in tying the series at 41. The teams meet again Friday.

“They switched Ensing from the left to the right and we couldn’t stop him,” Warriors coach Charlie Wade said. “Their offense at the end was better than ours.

“It was the first road trip for our top three point-scorers. Overall they played well, but the speed of the game is different at this level and they’ll learn.”

Set 4 had 14 ties, the last at 31. The teams traded swings at ending it, the 49ers holding off four match points and the Warriors six set points.

A kill by senior middle Hendrik Mol gave Hawaii its last chance at finishing it in Set 4 at 31-30. DeFalco tied it with Parapunov hitting wide then being triple blocked to send it to Set 5.

UH hitter Stijn van Tilburg, moving from opposite to left side, had a slow start in Set 1 and was replaced by senior Kupono Fey. The Warriors got little from that position with the pair finishing with three kills each.