LONG BEACH, Calif. >> Never leave things up to a committee. Hawaii knows that all too well when it comes to NCAA volleyball tournament selection.
The solution? Just win.
The Rainbow Warriors can control their own postseason destiny tonight as they face top seed and host Long Beach State for the inaugural Big West tournament title. The Pyramid is expected to be rocking, just as the Stan Sheriff Center was last week when the two teams concluded the regular season against each other, six-plus hours of high-level volleyball where the 49ers and Warriors each won one match in five sets.
The winner of tonight’s rubber match earns the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, while the loser bounces into the pool for at-large consideration. Last season here, The Beach defeated Hawaii in four, with both advancing to Columbus, Ohio, the 49ers as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion, the Warriors as one of two at-large teams from the MPSF.
It’s deju vu tonight, with top-seeded Long Beach State and second-seeded Hawaii again meeting for the league crown. The assumption is that both teams will be back up the I-405 in UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion in 10 days, but “we certainly intend to control our own destiny and win it outright,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said after the Warriors eliminated third-seeded UC Irvine 25-16, 25-23, 20-25, 25-18.
“I think we have a good enough resume (for an at-large with a loss tonight), but winning tomorrow would certainly seal the deal.”
Hawaii (19-7) will face a very motivated Long Beach State (25-1), which is looking to avenge its only loss of the season, that occurring a week ago in Honolulu. The 49ers took out some of their frustration on Cal State Northridge, sweeping the Matadors 25-23, 25-13, 25-17 in Friday’s second match, and running their home winning streak to 28, dating back to 2016.
“I think it will be awesome,” Warriors junior hitter Stijn van Tilburg said after putting down 11 kills for his fourth straight match in double-figure kills, 59th of his career. “It was our crowd last week, their crowd this week. It’s a huge difference, makes it more challenging, but makes for more fun volleyball.”
“It will be a challenge to play them again,” Hawaii junior setter Joe Worsley said. “But it’s 0-0.”
Hawaii rode the arm of sophomore opposite Rado Parapunov early and late in defeating UCI for the first time in three postseason meetings. Parapunov finished with 15 kills, a season-high four aces and four blocks. His final was a solo stuff of Aaron Koubi that ended it after 2 hours and 16 minutes.
Wade had jokingly told Parapunov right before the play, “Now would be a good time for a block.” It happened exactly like that, Parapunov said, “because you know they’re going to go to one of their best players in that situation. I moved outside with him.”
“Rado was clutch for us all night,” Worsley said. “Those three aces in the beginning (of Set 1) set the tone the rest of the night. Then he had some really clutch kills at the end.”
Hawaii controlled Set 1 from the service line. The Warriors, who had eight aces in their win over the Anteaters on Feb. 23, had six in the opening set.
Parapunov had three in a row to give Hawaii an early 9-5 lead. UCI never got closer than four, as the Warriors pulled away despite five service errors.
Parapunov’s fourth ace gave him a career high and gave Hawaii the 15-13 lead in Set 2. The Anteaters threatened, coming within one four times, the last at 24-23 on a net violation by Parapunov.
Van Tilburg, playing in front of his parents on their extended visit from Amsterdam, nailed his sixth kill to send Hawaii into the locker room up 2-0.
The Anteaters answered with four aces in Set 3 to run away at 18-12. The Warriors cut it to 24-20 but ran out of time for what would be been the first sweep suffered all season by UCI.
Worsley teed off to open Set 4 as Hawaii jumped out 6-0 with two kills each by Parapunov and junior middle Dalton Solbrig. It was never close, with freshman Gage Worsley’s ace giving the Warriors their ninth and a 21-13 lead.
At 23-18, Solbrig and van Tilburg teamed to stuff Karl Apfelbach, giving the Warriors the only match point they would need. Solbrig finished with nine kills with no errors on 12 attempts.
Hawaii hit .630 in Set 4 with just one error, finishing .356 for the night.
Apfelbach finished with 13 kills for UCI (21-9).
Long Beach State 3, Cal State Northridge 0
Junior opposite Kyle Ensing had 10 kills and the 49ers outblocked the Matadors 7.5-1 in 101 minutes. The Beach won the ace war 10-3, with reigning national player of the year TJ DeFalco cracking four.
“We are up for a good match with Hawaii,” 49ers senior hitter Bjarne Huus said. “We knew we left something on the table over there (in the loss on April 14 in Honolulu). It was more our execution.”
“The loss has been in our heads,” added 49ers junior setter Josh Tuaniga. “Being at home with our crowd … I think our boys are ready to play a really good match.”
Playing Hawaii three times in nine days on both sides of the Pacific Ocean creates a professional atmosphere, Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe said.
“We’re getting our first taste of being in the NBA,” Knipe said. “We’re expecting two teams playing high-level volleyball. I’d like to reproduce the noise in their arena last week in ours on Saturday.”
Senior opposite Arvis Greene ended his career with nine kills for CSUN (16-11).
