Beach Closed: ‘Bows bounce Long Beach State to advance to national championship

Shakas up.

Two weeks after falling in the Big West tournament final and watching LBSU freshman star Wojciech Gajek hit the “double shakas down” emote at the Rainbow Warrior fans in attendance, the University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team exacted revenge on Long Beach State.

The Rainbow Warriors advanced to the national championship game for the first time since 2023 on Saturday evening with a four-set victory over the Beach in the national semifinals at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, 25-15, 18-25, 25-21, 25-22. It’s the program’s seventh appearance in the NCAA Championship match and fifth under head coach Charlie Wade.

“Our lives are so intertwined,” Wade said about LBSU to open his postgame comments. “We’re always playing in these really meaningful matches, whether it’s in the league championship or the national championship tournament and even our league games are always two top-ranked teams [with] high drama, really important matches … Hats off to [Long Beach] and thrilled to advance to the final.”

Kristian Titriyski, Louis Sakanoko and Adrien Roure each finished with double digits kills, led by 14 from the Bulgarian opposite. Sakanoko smashed down 12 kills while Roure racked up 10 of his own as all three hit above .280 for the Rainbow Warriors on the way to eliminating the defending national champions from a chance at repeating.

After missing the previous matchup with the Beach with a lower leg injury, redshirt sophomore Justin Todd returned with a fury in the fourth matchup of the season as he racked up a career-best 10 total blocks while chipping in four kills on eight attempts.

“I wanted to show what I could do against Long Beach,” Todd said about returning after his absence in the Big West title game. “Our team does an amazing job, but I wanted to contribute.”

Gajek, who had a career-high 27 kills against Hawai’i along with his double-shaka-down salute in the Big West Championship match, was held in check by the Rainbow Warriors as the Polish opposite hit just .071 with nearly as many attacking errors (9) as total kills (11).

“I think everyone took it a little personally in Hawai’i, what he did,” said Louis Sakanoko in reference to Gajek’s hand gesture in the conference tournament. “Even if he didn’t mean to do that, everyone took it personally. So that’s a little way to send it back in a classy way.”

Hawai’i looked like men on a mission in the opening set, hitting .529 as a group with only one attacking miscue as the No. 2 seed took the frame comfortably, 25-15.

Long Beach State returned serve in the encore stanza as they hit a team-best .333 in the frame, getting a pair of the six total service aces to help to a 25-18 decision over the Rainbow Warriors.

Hawai’i got another assist from the Beach in the swing set as LBSU committed 16 errors (5 ATK, 6 SE, 2 RE and 3 BE) in the third. After committing six attacking errors in the previous frame, UH bounced back with only three mistake swings in the important frame to pull within one more set victory of a national title appearance.

Long Beach State slugged back in the must-have fourth set, taking a 15-12 lead at the media timeout with eyes on forcing a fifth frame against Hawai’i for the third time in four matchups this season.

The Rainbow Warriors had other plans.

Service runs from Sakanoko and sophomore Kainoa Wade helped Hawai’i draw even at 20, setting up a race to five between the regular season and conference tournament Big West champions.

Five of the final seven rallies went in favor of the Rainbow Warriors, seeing Titriyski thrash his 14th kill off a solo block attempt to wrap up the return to the national title match stage for Hawai’i.

Tread Rosenthal had 36 assists, five digs and five total blocks for the Rainbow Warriors, fighting through obvious discomfort over the final two frames after slipping and suffering an apparent injury near the conclusion of the third set. The 6-foot-11 setter also added a pair of aces and two kills as he helped Hawai’i break through to the NCAA Championship match for the first time in his career.

UC Irvine dealt with No. 4 Ball State in the first NCAA semifinal match of the day at Pauley Pavilion, seeing the Anteaters advance after four sets as well to set up an all-Big West national championship.

UCI (21-8, 5-5 Big West) has won four of five matches since the regular season concluded, including three straight to send the Anteaters to the national championship for the first time since 2013. Hawai’i won both regular season meetings against UC Irvine, outlasting the Anteaters in five sets before sweeping them the following the night at the start of April.

Hawai’i and UC Irvine will clash on Monday at 1 p.m. HT with rights to the national title on the line. A victory would deliver the third national championship in program history for the Rainbow Warriors while the Anteaters search for the fifth national crown and first in 13 years.

“We’ve said from the beginning that since inception, the Big West is the strongest men’s volleyball [conference],” stated Wade. “This is the third time that two Big West teams will be playing in the final … we’re very fortunate that volleyball’s a big deal in the Big West. They do a lot to give us the platform to play at the highest level and I think that’s recognized, not only across the country but around the world.”

Hawai’i matched a program record on Saturday night with the 29th win of the season, tied for the most in a single campaign by any Rainbow Warrior team ever.

There’s no better way for the first 30-win season in program history.