Box Score

LONG BEACH, Calif. – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team suffered its second straight Mountain Pacific Sports Federation road sweep after falling to No. 7 Long Beach State, 26-30, 30-23, 30-24, 30-21, Friday at the Walter Pyramid.

 

The 10^th-ranked Warriors (3-8, 2-6 MPSF) were dominated at the net, as the Beach (7-5, 6-3) out-blocked them, 16-3. Freshman Gus Tuaniga was the lone Warrior in double-figures with 18 kills in 35 swings. Fellow freshman Steven Hunt added nine kills and 11 digs, but was limited to -.037 hitting.

 

Unlike the night before, the Warriors held LBSU's Dean Bittner in check. After pounding a match-high 25 kills in a three-game sweep on Thursday, Bittner tallied 15 kills on .179 hitting. Josh Riley led the 49ers' attack with 19 kills while middle blocker Jim Baughman added 10 kills with no errors in 14 swings and 11 blocks.

 

Hawai'i got off to a great start to the match. Trailing 10-9 in Set 1, the Warriors used an 8-2 run aided by four 49er hitting errors, including a pair into the Hawai'i block. UH led by as many as 23-17 after consecutive Bittner hitting errors and cruised to a 30-26 victory.

 

The Warriors played from behind the rest of the way as the Beach ran off to a 17-12 lead in Set 2, a 21-17 advantage in Set 3 and a 15-6 cushion in Set 4. Hawai'i could not catch the Beach in either set.

 

As a team, the 49ers hit .316 compared to .188 for the Warriors.

 

UH will take the next week off before hosting Stanford for a two-match series, Feb. 26 and 28, at the Stan Sheriff Center. First serve for both matches is 7:00 p.m.