’Bows crush BYU in MPSF semifinals

LONG BEACH, Calif. >> It was “The Hunger Games” played on a volleyball court Thursday, the stakes as high as they possibly could be. Second-seeded Brigham Young and third-seeded Hawaii not only were playing to keep alive hopes of winning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball title on Saturday but, should Saturday not pan out, also to keep the season alive courtesy of an at-large berth into the upcoming NCAA tournament.

It was “The Hunger Games” relocated from Smith Fieldhouse to the Walter Pyramid via UH’s Gym 1 by the Rainbow Warriors, who wanted to avenge being swept twice by the Cougars nearly five weeks ago in Provo. Hawaii had only taken one set off BYU in the previous four meetings and the pangs have been felt since that long flight back to Honolulu.

Hawaii’s screen rewrite was called “The Mini Games” after the intense in-practice contests played to 25 points, starting at 20. It becomes a shortened set, first team that takes five points wins.

The Warriors won each of the three mini games against the Cougars by being the best team over those last critical points, sweeping into Saturday’s MPSF tournament final against top-seeded Long Beach State with a 25-22, 25-23, 25-22 upset of Brigham Young. In Thursday’s second match, the host 49ers (26-3) swept fourth-seeded UC Irvine 25-19, 25-22, 25-19 in front of 2,489.

Thursday was the first time Hawaii (26-4) won in straight sets over BYU (24-4) since 2014, a streak of six consecutive losses.

In Set 1, an ace by freshman serving substitution Rado Parapunov gave the Warriors the lead at 20-19 and Hawaii closed it out on a 5-2 run. In Set 2, it was 23-23 and then it was over, with consecutive blocks of Ben Patch and Brenden Sander.

In Set 3, Hawaii used aces by Jennings Franciskovic and Kupono Fey during a 5-0 spurt that led to match point at 24-21. One sideout later, van Tilburg’s final swing had the Warriors and the pro-UH crowd celebrating the first appearance in the MPSF title match since 2002.

“The mini games in practice have us a lot more comfortable at 20 and that’s what separated us at the end tonight,” senior middle Hendrik Mol said. “It was a neutral court and we showed everyone the team we knew we were.

“We knew it would be close. I never thought it would be 3-0.”

Think again.

Senior hitter Fey tied his career high with 16 kills, sophomore opposite Stijn van Tilburg added 12 — half coming in Set 3 — and senior setter Franciskovic had the Warriors hitting .429 over the 1 hour and 41 minutes. Mol and freshman middle Patrick Gasman combined for 13 kills with no errors on 19 swings, with Mol in on five of the 7.5 blocks for Hawaii, the top blocking team in the country.

“All three of the seniors on the court have been playing at a really high level,” Warriors coach Charlie Wade said of Fey, Franciskovic and Mol. “That team (BYU) doesn’t get blocked, but we touched a lot of balls, which gave us a chance on offense.

“Our serving set up a lot of what we did. The two blocks at the end of Set 2 were gifts courtesy of our serving.”

It was sophomore hitter Brett Rosenmeier on the service line with shots that made for some predictability by the BYU offense. Cougars setter Leo Durkin went right, with Patch getting stuffed by Gasman and Fey. Durkin went left, with Sander roofed by Gasman and Franciskovic to end it, giving the Warriors a 2-0 lead.

Set 1 had 17 ties, Set 2 had 19. Set 3 had just five, but it was tight again through 20.

Fey broke the last one with his 16th kill, forcing a BYU timeout. The Cougars came out of it only to have Franciskovic’s serve land inside the baseline for separation.

Patch, who had missed 13 matches with a groin injury, nailed his 14th and final kill to pull BYU to within 22-21. Hawaii held with van Tilburg going cross-court angle and Fey’s ace setting up match point. Sander held off the inevitable with his 11th kill, only to have van Tilburg answer, handing the Cougars their first straight-set loss in the tournament since 2000 at UCLA.

“Everyone played really great tonight, everyone contributed,” Franciskovic said. “We served really well, something we didn’t do in Provo. We were able to get them out of system.

“The biggest difference is that we played well at 19-20 on. That’s when we pushed away. It’s what we’ve been working on all year in our mini games.”

Hawaii cleaned up its serve after committing six errors in Set 1. The Warriors had just three the rest of the way, something that impressed Wade, “Considering everyone was going back and bombing their serves.

“I’m super proud of our guys, they stayed focused. We knew we had to keep pressure on from the service line and we were able to do that.”

BYU coach Shawn Olmstead agreed.

“We couldn’t get in system; they put a bunch of pressure on us from the service line,” he said. “Our passing wasn’t as good as when we played (Hawaii) at home.

“We’ll go back to Provo, keep practicing and hope we get a chance to continue playing. I think we have the résumé (for an at-large bid).”

The winners of each of the four conferences get an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament, with two at-large bids. Barring defending champion Ohio State being upset by Grand Canyon in the MIVA final on Saturday, most feel that the MPSF will get both at-large berths.

Coming into this week, BYU had the top RPI, followed by Ohio State, Long Beach State, Hawaii and UC Irvine.

The selection show is Sunday at 7 a.m. on ncaa.com.