The rivalry between Hawaii and Long Beach State added another dramatic chapter in Friday’s Big West men’s volleyball showdown.

All four sets of the series opener were decided in the pressure-packed final points and the final three tipped in second-ranked Long Beach State’s favor in a 22-25, 25-23, 26-24, 27-25 victory over the fourth-ranked Rainbow Warriors at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.

Long Beach State freshman Alex Nikolov put away 22 kills and Spencer Olivier added 20, including match point, as the Beach broke the tie atop the Big West standings and won its eighth straight home match in the series with UH.

“Every match the rest of the season will look similar to that in terms of playing a really good team and you’re going to have to play well to win sets let alone the match,” UH coach Charlie Wade said in a post-match Zoom session.

The Rainbow Warriors (18-4, 3-2 Big West) and Beach (15-3, 4-1) close their series today in a rematch televised on ESPNU.

UH outside hitter Chaz Galloway led the Rainbow Warriors with 13 kills while hitting .333 and middle blocker Guilherme Voss finished with nine kills in 12 attempts and was in on three of UH’s eight blocks.

But the outcome of a match that included 52 ties and 16 lead changes demonstrated the slender margin separating victory and defeat at the top of the national rankings.

“You really could point to all kinds of stuff,” Wade said. “Just need to make a play late. Could have been a little better receiving, could have been a little better defending, could have been a little better serving and we didn’t play particularly well all night and we had leads late in every set.”

Nikolov, Olivier and outside hitter Clarke Godbold (13 kills) accounted for all but five of LBSU’s 60 kills and the Beach hit .301 while holding UH to a .248 performance with libero Mason Briggs popping up 17 digs.

“They’ve got three really talented pins they’ve been really leaning on those guys and they played good enough to help their team win,” Wade said.

“When you’re playing a team when all three (pin hitters) are doing most of the scoring, we needed some more scoring from ours as well.”

UH outside hitter Spyros Chakas finished with nine kills in 29 swings and opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias struggled with five kills and seven errors in 23 attempts and was relieved by Filip Humler in the fourth set. The Warriors posted 14 kills with 10 errors over the final two sets and were aided by 17 LBSU service errors to stay close. The Beach finished with seven aces against 26 errors from the service line.

UH setter Jakob Thelle posted a double-double with 35 assists and 11 dig and libero Brett Sheward added a career-high 15 digs as UH’s floor defense helped extend rallies.

LBSU fired seven aces to one for Hawaii and overcame 26 service errors in a match in which all four sets were tied at 21-21.

UH closed the opening set with a 6-2 surge with Galloway contributing two of his six kills in the set and Chakas going off the block on set point.

UH edged ahead at 23-22 in the second set but LBSU’s Simon Torwie tied it with one of the Beach’s few middle attacks and Nikolov scored out of the back row to give the Beach set point. After UH timeout, Nikolov ended the set with his second ace to tie the match at a set apiece.

UH led 21-19 in the third set before LBSU surged ahead with a 5-1 run highlighted by back-to-back aces by Nathan Harlan. UH wiped out two set points on Galloway kills, but a service error and a block gave the Beach the set and the lead in the match.

UH went on a 6-1 run to take a 19-16 lead in the fourth set, but LBSU answered with a 5-1 surge to reclaim the lead. UH came within a point of forcing a fifth set at 24-23, but Olivier went off the block and tapped down an overpass to give the Beach match point. A service error extended the set and Nikolov scored on a back-row attack to give the Beach its second match point. This time LBSU closed out the match when Olivier again put down an overpass of Godbold’s serve.