Count Alan Knipe among those who will miss the usual atmosphere of a Hawaii-Long Beach State men’s volleyball matchup.
The last time the Long Beach State coach accompanied his team to Manoa a little less than two years ago, a raucous crowd of 10,300 at the Stan Sheriff Center (now SimpliFi Arena) watched the host Rainbow Warriors claim a five-set victory in the Big West tournament final.
Two weeks later, the Beach hit back with a four-set victory in the final match of the NCAA tournament at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif., to claim a second straight national championship.
The top-ranked Warriors (9-0, 4-0 Big West) and No. 7 Long Beach State (3-1, 3-1) meet for the first time since the 2019 title match today to open a Big West series in the relative quiet of an empty SimpliFi Arena.
While the Beach won’t have to deal with the crowd noise in conference matches today and Saturday, “I don’t think any coach or player hopes to play matches in an empty gym,” Knipe said.
“It’s one of the special things about playing at the Pyramid or playing at Stan Sheriff,” said Knipe, now in his 18th year at LBSU. “You know you’re gonna have a big crowd and an educated crowd and a lively crowd. That’s what you dream about as a young player, playing in those big collegiate moments.
“But also I think that under the circumstances, we also have to just be very grateful that we’re playing, and thinking we could be back on Zoom again.”
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Knipe and the LBSU coaches were limited to virtual meetings with the players until being cleared to start practices in mid-February and the Beach were among the last teams in the country to start their season.
After dropping its opener at UC Santa Barbara on March 20, Long Beach State — which starts four freshmen, two sophomores and a junior — has won three straight and is coming off a five-set win at UC Irvine after dropping the first two sets last Saturday.
“It might not always be pretty, but if you’re getting better, and you’re finding ways to win sets and win matches, it might not be the way you would want to draw it up in a normal situation, but it’s a wonderful starting point when you just refuse to give in to the moment,” Knipe said.
“It’s a little bit like the basketball tournament thing of ‘survive and advance.’ We play back to back every weekend against great teams in the Big West. Our goal is to get better every set and every match we play and learn a lot about ourselves and try to be in the best position we can come the tournament.”
After taking both matches with UC Irvine, Long Beach State swept the Big West’s weekly honors, with sophomore outside hitter Spencer Olivier named Player of the Week, junior middle blocker Simon Andersen named Defensive Player of the Week and outside hitter Clarke Godbold named Freshman of the Week.
The 6-foot-6 Olivier leads the Beach with 3.65 kills per set while hitting .325. Andersen ranks third nationally with 1.41 blocks per set and freshman setter Aidan Knipe, the coach’s son, has run an offense hitting .286 and leads the nation with 11.93 assists per set. The Beach also return Punahou graduate Ethan Siegfried, a senior who is tied for second on the team with three aces.
UH counters with an attack that leads the nation in kills per set (14.03) and hitting percentage (.379), topped by senior Rado Parapunov (4.33 kps, .409). The Warriors are also second in blocks per set at 2.90, led by Patrick Gasman’s 1.59.
LBSU enters tonight’s match with a 48-43 lead in the all-time series and has won 10 of the past 12, with UH holding a 23-17 edge when playing in Manoa.
“Going back a handful of years now it seems like every time we’ve played there’s been (something) pretty significant on the line,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “Either we were both ranked 1 or 2, or playing for a championship of some kind, all the way back to the last MPSF championship. So just some great history between the two programs and played a lot of meaningful matches and this week should be no different.”
BIG WEST VOLLEYBALL
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
No. 7 Long Beach St. (3-1, 3-1 Big West) vs. No. 1 Hawaii (9-0, 4-0)
>> When: Today and Saturday, 7 p.m.
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.-FM
