The Hawaii-Long Beach State volleyball rivalry has been a heated one for decades indoors on the men’s and women’s sides. The beach volleyball rivalry may be newer but no less intense with another critical showdown today at Queen’s Beach.
The stakes are high in the 10 a.m. meeting between the top-seeded Rainbow Wahine and third-seeded 49ers in the championship semifinal of the Big West tournament. The loser drops into the elimination bracket and likely will face second-seeded Cal Poly at 11 a.m.; the loser of that potentially sees its season ended in Honolulu and not continuing at next week’s NCAA tournament in Gulf Shores, Ala.
Hawaii (33-3) continued to make a strong case for entry into the May 4-6 national championship with a 5-0 victory over Cal State Bakersfield on Friday, extending the SandBows’ school-record winning streak to 28. Hawaii did not drop a set, seeing Emily Maglio and Ka’iwi Schucht (Flight 1) improve their program-best winning streak to 24 straight and Ari Homayun and Amy Ozee (Flight 4) run theirs to 22.
After their quick win over the Roadrunners, the third-ranked SandBows watched as sixth-ranked Long Beach State (25-6) pulled out a 3-2 upset of fourth-ranked and second-seeded Cal Poly. The deciding point came at Flight 1 when Nele Barber and Sasha Karelov rallied past Torrey Van Winden and Tiadora Miric 18-21, 21-15, 15-13, with Barber putting down the final two kills.
“We have scouted both teams well, so it didn’t matter who we saw,” said Hawaii coach Jeff Hall, his team having defeated both three weeks ago at the Big West Challenge in Sacramento. “I’d like my birthday week (Hall’s birthday was Thursday.) to continue with a championship present. I’m going to be greedy in this moment so that there’s not a committee decision if we’re in or not.”
On Sunday, the eight-team NCAA tournament field will be announced, with three teams from the west and east regions and two at-large bids. In the coaches poll, the top six teams are from the west — including the Big West’s Hawaii (3), Cal Poly (4) and Long Beach State (6).
“Our goal coming in was to win this tournament, control our destiny,” 49ers coach Mike Campbell said. “Coming out of the tournament as Big West champions solidifies us as a team for next week.
“It’s not an easy venture. You’ve got to beat Hawaii on their home court, beat Cal Poly, but that is our way into the NCAA.”
Hawaii’s sweep Friday saw the return of freshman Paige Dreeuws at Flight 5 with senior Hannah Zalopany. Dreeuws had missed the past five matches due to concussion protocol. “It felt so good to be back,” she said. “I’m so happy to be able to play in the Big West and then the national championship.”
Dreeuws and Zalopany are the only Hawaii duo not participating in Sunday’s noncounting pairs tournament. The SandBows maxed out with four entries in the 16-team bracket.
I’m looking forward to playing at Queen’s for the last time,” Zalopany said. “It think we’ve got a pretty good home advantage.
“My whole career, Long Beach has been our rivals. It should be a great matchup.”
In other matches Friday, Cal Poly eliminated Cal State Northridge 5-0 and Cal State Bakersfield ousted Sacramento State 3-2. The Mustangs and Roadrunners meet at 11 a.m. today in a loser-out match.
