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Photo GalleryVIDEO: Match Highlights (courtesy OC Sports)VIDEO: Match Recap with Highlights & InterviewsHONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team advanced to next week's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship round following a thrilling straight-set victory over Long Beach State, Saturday, in a quarterfinal round match at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-19, 26-24, 27-25.
The second-seeded Rainbow Warriors (24-5), who advanced to their first MPSF semifinals since 2010, won for the ninth consecutive time at home and did so in dramatic fashion. The 'Bows needed to rally late in Sets 2 and 3 and combined to save seven set points, including five in the final frame.
Hawai'i will move on to face third-seeded Pepperdine in Thursday's semifinal in Irvine, Calif. The Waves defeated sixth-seeded UC Santa Barbara in straight sets. Top-seeded and host UC Irvine will meet fourth-seeded USC, who survived a five-setter against BYU.
The 'Bows were led by the outside hitters
Sinisa Zarkovic (18 kills) and
Kupono Fey (17), who combined for 35 kills on .397 hitting. Fey also tallied 12 digs while Zarkovic hit for a team-high .405 percentage. Libero
Kolby Kanetake had a match-high 18 digs.
Dan Glamack had a team-high 13 kills for the 49ers (15-13), while John La Rusch added 10.
UH received a boost off the bench from back-up setter
Alex Jones, whose service game ignited Warrior rallies in the second and third sets. Hawai'i trailed by as many as eight in Set 2 before pulling within 23-22 after a LBSU hitting error. A Glamack kill gave the Beach set point but Zarkovic's kill pulled UH to within 24-23. Enter Jones who then served three straight points – fueled by two huge blocks by
Davis Holt – and Zarkovic's eighth kill on UH's set point.
The Warriors again trailed early and often in Set 3 before closing to within 20-18 after a triple block by Fey,
Jennings Franciskovic, and
Taylor Averill. The Beach then reeled off three straight to seemingly put the set away but Hawai'i rallied again behind Jones and Zarkovic.
Down 24-20, back-to-back kills by Zarkovic pulled UH to within two. Then Holt and
Brook Sedore teamed up to stuff LBSU's Cody Martin and Zarkovic hammered yet another kill to tie it at 24. After a La Rusch kill gave the Beach their fifth set point, Zarkovic put away his 18
th kill to tie it at 25 and Fey put down his 17
th kill for match point. Zarkovic's serve forced an errant pass and the Beach could not send the ball over, which ignited a wild celebration from the nearly 7,000 in attendance.
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