Long Beach State sweeps ailing Hawaii

Ailing for much of the week, Hawaii left the court on Friday with a stinging loss to its fiercest conference rival.

Long Beach State’s offensive efficiency powered the nation’s fourth-ranked team to a 25-20, 29-27, 25-22 sweep of the top-ranked Rainbow Warriors in UH’s Big West opener before a crowd of 6,709 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

LBSU outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis, a transfer from Ohio State, made a dazzling Sheriff Center debut by putting away a season-high 19 kills, Spencer Olivier hammered his 13th on match point and the Beach staved off four set points in the second set while sending UH (17-2, 0-1 Big West) to its second loss in eight days.

UH was swept for the first time since Jan. 29, 2022, at Ball State and for the first time at home since a loss to BYU on March 5, 2020.

After the Warriors’ first conference defeat at home since April 13, 2018, also against Long Beach State, UH coach Charlie Wade said the Warriors had been “triage-ing all week.”

“We had multiple guys out sick and hurt all week and we never practiced as a team once, and it looked like we hadn’t practiced all week,” Wade said. “That said, hats off to Long Beach. Offensively they were really good and we weren’t.”

Long Beach State (12-2, 3-0 BWC) will carry a six-match winning streak into today’s 7 p.m. rematch to close the series. UH will look for another bounce-back performance a week after closing the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational with a win over UCLA following its loss to Penn State.

“Probably starting off a little quicker,” UH outside hitter Chaz Galloway said when asked about the focus for today’s match. “I felt like we were a little slow to start off and they had a bunch of energy. So coming out ready to play and not being so shocked when they’re swinging punches, because it’s going to be a fight all night.”

Last season, Long Beach State won both regular-season meetings with UH, with two four-set wins at the Walter Pyramid. The Warriors then swept the Beach in the Big West and NCAA Tournament championship games on their way to a second straight national title.

In the 98th meeting between the programs and first since the NCAA final at Pauley Pavilion last May, Long Beach State setter Aidan Knipe distributed 43 assists for an attack that hit .484 with just seven errors to post the highest hitting percentage for a UH opponent this season.

The Beach’s passing gave Knipe opportunities to feed middles Simon Torwie and Shane Holdaway for a combined 15 kills on 20 attempts without an error.

“I thought offensively we were really, really good,” Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe said. “I thought we passed the ball really well and thought Aidan did a great job distributing the ball. We had everybody involved and hitting a high number.

“That’s the obvious stat that pops out … but I was probably equally impressed with our grit of digging balls in transition, multiple rallies back and forth and finding ways to win a lot of those.”

Long Beach State entered the series leading the nation in blocks per set and finished with 7.5 blocks to UH’s season-low 3.5.

UH opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias led the Warriors (17-2, 0-1 BWC) with 15 kills on 32 attacks, Galloway added 10 and middle blocker Guilherme Voss scored on all seven of his attempts.

Outside hitter Spyros Chakas, the Big West’s kills per set leader, finished with seven kills and a season-high eight errors.

UH setter Jakob Thelle finished with 41 assists but appeared to get up gingerly after a point in the third set. The senior sat out seven matches early this season to rest his knees, and was able to finish Friday’s match. Outside hitter Filip Humler, who provided a spark off the bench last week, did not suit up for the match due to illness.

Long Beach State hit .542 with 14 kills and just one error in the first set, then hit .568 in the second. There were 16 ties in the second set, with the last four coming after UH earned set point at 24-23 on a Chakas kill.

It appeared UH won the set when an Olivier attack was initially ruled long, but a challenge review revealed a touch to force another tie at 25-25. The Beach moved ahead when Chakas hit wide and Holdaway ended the set with just his second ace of the season.

“It’s very emotional,” Galloway said of dropping the set after having four chances to even the match. “But it’s a roller coaster. There’s going to be ups and downs and we have to find our consistency and stay there and keep our heads cool and keep playing.”

UH erased a six-point deficit to catch LBSU at 18-18 in the third set, but Long Beach reclaimed the lead on a Siapanis kill that sparked a 6-2 run. UH held off two match points before Olivier’s final kill of the night.

“Proud of the guys for battling like that,” Wade said. “Certainly was a pretty good effort, but when you’re going to play against a really good team like that you have to be a little crisper.”