UH, Long Beach go for first, and last, MPSF title

LONG BEACH, Calif. >> It may be called the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament championship, but, for all intents and purposes, today’s final between top-seeded Long Beach State and third-seeded Hawaii could very well be a preview of next year’s title showdown in the inaugural Big West Conference tourney.

With the demise of the MPSF as volleyball fans have come to know it for some 40 years, it is fitting, perhaps, that two of the teams never to win the MPSF tournament are competing for the last one. Hawaii and Long Beach State — as well as Cal State Northridge, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego — will comprise the Big West, the first non-hybrid conference to sponsor men’s volleyball.

“It’s surprising to me that neither program has won,” Rainbow Warriors coach Charlie Wade said during Friday’s practice at the Walter Pyramid. “It was bound to end and it will tomorrow.

“It’s one of those things that I’ll reflect on more after that fact if we’re fortunate enough to win it. But we’re still very much trying to get to the national championship and win a national championship.

“As appealing as it is to be the conference champions, that’s not really the end game.”

The goal is to be playing somewhere, some time after tonight’s match. The NCAA selection show will include an announcement as to whether there will be two play-in matches at host sites on April 29, or if the championship format remains unchanged, with the play-in matches on May 2 at Ohio State.

“It’s hard to avoid the speculation and extrapolation,” Wade said of the various scenarios surrounding the two at-large selections. “But we don’t control any of it.

“We control what we do (today). We’ve been pretty dialed in the last four matches. There’s no doubt that we’ll be ready. We’ll see if it’s enough to win the match.”

On Thursday, Hawaii swept second-seeded Brigham Young, just the fourth straight-set loss for Cougars coach Shawn Olmstead in 59 matches. Although it was a pro-Hawaii crowd — some of it anti-BYU — it was still a neutral site.

That changes today. Long Beach State is 15-0 at home this season, with a 16-match winning streak dating back to last year.

The 49ers’ run includes a five-set victory over the Warriors in the MPSF home opener on Jan. 18, one where Hawaii led 2-0 and had three match points in Set 4 only to lose in five. The Beach then swept Hawaii two nights later.

“You learn a lot about yourselves in January,” Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe said. “The important thing for us is showing the grit and resolve that we did to come back after being down 0-2.

“The most important thing for us Saturday is to stay true to what we’re good at. We have to be able to pass the ball. Hawaii is significantly more aggressive in their serving than they were the last time here. We have to weather that, stay in our offensive rhythm.

“What we’ve been able to do is apply pressure on both sides of the ball, create some stress with our serving. It comes down to what every coach always says: serving and passing. It’s, ‘Can we get them out of system and not allow that to happen to us?’”

The Warriors will try to do just that, hoping to continue the successful serving pressure they put on the Cougars on Thursday. Hawaii had six service errors midway through Set 1, and just three the rest of the way.

“I think it was confidence,” said Warriors sophomore hitter Brett Rosenmeier, who had two of his three service errors in Set 1. “In the beginning, it was about getting used to the gym, the other team and probably some nerves. I know I tried to be as consistent as possible, both hitting and serving. Every serve matters. In a game of real points, that’s how we’re going to beat good teams.

“Winning the MPSF title would be huge. Long Beach will be with us next year in the Big West. It would be great to take the last one and hopefully carry it over to the Big West next year.”

Capturing the title would cap a big week for Long Beach State. Not only were the 49ers the top seed, with hosting duties for the semifinals and final — it was announced on Tuesday that they would host the 2019 NCAA tournament.

Long Beach State also will host the inaugural Big West tournament in 2018. Hawaii will host in 2019 and it will be at UC Irvine in 2020.

“It’s a good time to be men’s volleyball here,” said Knipe, a member of the 49ers’ 1991 NCAA title team.

Note

A win by Hawaii would tie the program record for wins with 27, matching that of the 1996 team that advanced to the NCAA championship match. It also would tie the series with Long Beach State. The Warriors led it 41-40 coming into this season, with the 49ers going ahead 42-41 following the two wins in January.