Box Score

HONOLULU - The 12th ranked University of Hawai`i men's volleyball team dropped a four-set decision to No. 6 Long Beach State tonight in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match in front of 2,679 (issued) at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Hawai`i (1-4, 0-2 MPSF) came out on fire in the first set hitting .545 at the midway point, building a 15-11 lead. The 49ers battled back and tied the set at 28. The two teams traded the next several points and, at 30 all, UH then got a kill by Jacob Schkud and a double block by Sean Carney and Keali`i Frank to end it, 32-30. Brock Hutchins got his first start of the season and responded in the set with five kills and hit at a .500 clip.

The two teams played sideout to start the second set. LBSU took advantage of a UH service error to go up 11-10 and never relinquished the lead, building it to its biggest lead at 30-20. Nejc Zemljak came alive in the set, posting five kills. However, the Warriors managed only a .171 hitting percentage in the set.

The third set resembled the first only The Beach reversed the score, 32-30, to go up two games to one. There were 10 ties and seven lead changes in the set, the most to this point. UH had its biggest lead at 13-11, but LBSU took the next four points and went on to lead by as many as six on two ocassions. The Warriors pulled even at 27 and took the lead on the next serve on a LBSU attack error. The 49ers got a kill and took advantage of a UH error to serve for game point. But the Warriors still had some fight left in them as Schkud pounded down two straight kills to serve game point, 30-29. LBSU then responded with two consecutive kills and profited from a UH attack error.

The Warriors held the lead in the fourth set until just after the halfway point, 16-15. But the Beach came back to take the lead 18-17 and would increase it to three, 24-21. LBSU would maintain the three-point advantage until match point when UH committed an attack error to close out the set, 30-26.

Zemljak and Schkud led the Warrior attack with 14 kills apiece, while Hutchins added 12. Carney dished out 52 assists, but UH finished with a .213 hitting percentage. Frank led UH up front with six blocks with the trio of Carney, Zemljak and Ric Cervantes teamming up for 11, 11 and 10 digs, respectively.

The Beach (4-0, 2-0 MPSF) was led by Paul Lotman and Dean Bittern tied with 26 kills each, while setter Mike Kipsch added 69 assists.

Hawai`i is idle next week before closing out their seven-match homestand with UC San Diego Jan. 23 and 25 at the SSC.

-UH-