Service line struggles sink Hawai’i against top-ranked Long Beach State

HONOLULU – Ignited the engines a little too late. 

The fourth-ranked University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team started slow from the service line on Friday night, falling into a two-set hole and ultimately dropping the first of a pair of weekend matches versus No. 1 Long Beach State in four frames, (21-25, 18-25, 25-18, 21-25). The Rainbow Warriors committed 17 errors from the serving box in total, racking up 12 in the first two stanzas. 

Long Beach sophomore opposite Daniil Hershtynovich led the top-ranked visitors with 17 kills on 33 attempts, helping as LBSU hit .365 across the four sets. The Beach (24-1, 6-1 Big West) came out on fire, hitting .464 and .522 with only four total attacking errors in the first two frames as they took a commanding set lead on the way to reclaiming the top spot in the conference standings. 

“We served like donkeys in the first two sets,” Hawai’i head coach Charlie Wade said after the match. “We make six errors in each of the first two sets and [Long Beach State] is too good of a team to give that many free points to.” 

Getting the nod in place of injured star opposite Kristian Titriyski, Hawai’i freshman Finn Kearney racked up 17 kills of his own in his second career start to lead UH. Three players in total finished in double figures for kills for the Rainbow Warriors, seeing the French duo of Adrien Roure and Louis Sakanoko finish with 12 and 11 putdowns respectively.  

Tread Rosenthal recorded a season-high 13 digs as he posted his first double-double of the year, handing out 40 assists across the four sets without his top offensive option. Hawai’i (22-4, 5-2 Big West) got a lift in the third frame from freshman middle blocker Ofeck Hazan, who came out of the tunnel with a mistake-free set and tacked on three kills in four attempts in the lone set victory for UH. 

Playing in front of the 14th-ever ticketed issued sellout in program history, the Rainbow Warriors seemed to draw from nearly 10,000 fans dressed in white as they tried to force a fifth set and secure a reverse sweep of the nation’s best team. Hawai’i took a 20-18 lead in the fourth frame as head coach Charlie Wade won another challenge, but a 7-1 run from the Beach ended the Rainbow Warriors’ comeback hopes. 

“We’re going to have to serve at least as good as our season averages to compete against the top teams, we can’t be worse than we have been all year,” Wade said of the Rainbow Warriors going forward. “And hopefully [we serve] better. That’s what you want to see here late, like I said, [LBSU was] better tonight than their averages and that’s typically who is going to win.” 

The two top-ranked squads will clash again on Saturday night as Hawai’i celebrates “Show’UHM Your Aloha Senior Night” with a send-off of five special seniors in Clay Wieter, Zachary Thompson, Kawai Hong, Kurt Nusterer and ‘Eleu Choy following the match. First serve between UH and LBSU is scheduled for 7 p.m. HT and has been sold out for over a week. Friday and Saturday will mark the first time there are consecutive ticketed sell-outs for regular season men’s volleyball games since March 1 & 2, 1996 when Hawai’i hosted UCLA. 

Seniors from the University of Hawai’i men’s and women’s golf, coed and women’s sailing, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s track and field, women’s water polo, beach volleyball and cheerleading teams will all be recognized during the night’s intermission as part of UH’s Senior Salute.