After misfiring early against a long-time rival, No. 1 Hawaii recovered to fend off No. 7 Long Beach State on Friday at SimpliFi Arena.
UH dropped the opening set for the third time in five series this season, but the Rainbow Warriors dominated the next two and edged The Beach in the fourth for a 23-25, 25-14, 25-13, 26-24 victory.
The Warriors committed seven hitting errors and four service errors in dropping the first set but had just five hitting errors over the next two to take control, then overcame another shaky hitting performance in the fourth to finish off the victory.
“When we lose our first set we’re right on schedule,” UH libero Gage Worsley said, tongue in cheek, after the match.
“We just played better volleyball all around. It was uncharacteristic of us and we just cleaned that up and just got that out of the way (to) make way for a more efficient match.”
UH senior Rado Parapunov put down 17 kills, including on match point, in 43 attempts and Colton Cowell added 14 kills while hitting .357 in the first meeting between the programs since LBSU’s win in the 2019 national championship match and the first in Manoa since UH’s five-set victory in the Big West tournament final earlier that season.
UH freshman Chaz Galloway added 10 kills and Cowell and senior middle blocker Patrick Gasman were both in on eight of UH’s 151⁄2 blocks for the Rainbow Warriors (10-0, 5-0 Big West).
Worsley finished with a season-high 14 digs and was thankful for the UH block in the late stages of the fourth set.
“The last five points I think I overpassed two or three balls on serve receive and they bailed me and our team out — otherwise we could be playing a fifth set,” Worsley said. “The block was so big tonight, and they’re my saving grace.”
LBSU sophomore Spencer Olivier led the Beach with 14 kills and freshman Clarke Godbold had 10 for The Beach (3-2, 3-2), which hit .072 as a team with 30 errors.
UH, which ended the night hitting .265 with a season-high 22 errors, concludes a four-match homestand with today’s 7 p.m. series finale with LBSU.
“It’s nice when we can win when we’re still not playing all that well, but certainly would like to clean it up,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “You know the guys aren’t making errors on purpose — it’s just something as the season goes on you’re going to have to work through.”
UH edged away to a 19-14 lead in the first set before a kill by Olivier triggered an 8-1 LBSU run. The Beach’s surge included an ace by Simon Andersen in his five-point run at the service line and was aided by four UH hitting errors. Leading 22-20, The Beach managed to sideout to close out the set, finishing it off when UH couldn’t return Andersen’s attack in the middle.
Galloway put down five kills in eight swings in UH’s bounce-back second set. The Warriors opened up a 14-8 lead with a 7-1 run that included three kills and a solo block from Parapunov and a Max Rosenfeld ace. Parapunov and Galloway fired aces in another 7-1 surge as the Warriors pulled away to even the match.
UH had two blocks through two sets, then put down six in the third in rolling the momentum into another quick win to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Gasman was in on four blocks in the set and UH led 20-8 when he combined with Cowell to stuff an Olivier attack. UH hit .478 in the set and earned sideouts on 13 of 14 LBSU serves.
“It’s the same scouting report; they just executed it better,” Wade said of UH’s block. “The game speed is just different (than) when you’re watching it on film.
“I thought (setter Jakob Thelle) did nice job of getting it dialed in there and the block did come alive in the back half of the match.”
The fourth set was far tighter and UH, which committed 10 errors and hit .065 in the set, erased a three-point deficit and caught The Beach at 15-15 on a Gasman ace. After LBSU spurred a UH timeout at 20-20, the Warriors put down blocks on the next two points.
A Gasman kill through the middle gave UH match point at 24-22. But after a service error, Parapunov’s cross-court attack went wide to tie the set. Gasman and Galloway then teamed up on UH’s final block of the night and Parapunov put away match point from the back row.
