LONG BEACH, Calif. – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team advanced to the Big West Tournament championship match following a four-set win over UC Irvine, Friday in the first of two semifinals at the Walter Pyramid. Set scores were 25-16, 25-23, 20-25, 25-18.
The second-seeded Rainbow Warriors (19-7) will meet top-seeded Long Beach State, Saturday at 7:00 p.m. HT in the inaugural Big West Tournament finals. The match will air on ESPN3. The 49ers (25-1) defeated fourth-seeded CSUN in another semifinal match-up. UH and LBSU met last week in a two-match series in Honolulu with each team winning in five-sets.
Opposite
Rado Parapunov led the way with 15 kills, four aces, and four blocks for the Warriors. Outside hitter
Stijn van Tilburg added 11 kills while
Brett Rosenmeier had 10 kills and six digs.
Middle blocker
Dalton Solbrig, who hit .750 with nine kills in 12 attempts and also added a team-high five blocks. Setter
Joe Worsley had 46 assists and 10 digs and led UH to a team hitting percentage of .356.
Karl Apfelbach had a team-high 14 kills for the Anteaters (21-9).
UH came out firing in the first set with a barrage of aces. Three aces by Parapunov led to a five-point run and a 10-5 Hawai'i lead. Another ace by
Patrick Gasman gave the Warriors a 12-7 lead and yet another by Worsley pushed the lead to six. UH finished with six aces in the set en route to a 25-16 rout.
Hawai'i scored the first three points of Set 2 and maintained its advantage as Parapunov's fourth ace put the Warriors ahead 15-12. After the Anteaters inched their way back, consecutive blocks by van Tilburg gave UH a 22-19 lead. UCI trimmed the deficit to one at 23-22 but the Warriors sided-out to finish, including a kill by van Tilburg on set point.
UCI led from nearly start to finish in Set 3. Back-to-back aces by Joel Schneidmiller helped gave the Anteaters a 12-7 lead. The Warriors closed to within two but UCI managed to pull away, as the Warriors hit only .067 in the set.
UH scored the first six points of Set 4 with a pair of kills each by Parapunov and Solbrig. The Warriors doubled up the Eaters at 10-5 following a double block by van Tilburg and Gasman. The teams traded points until UH strung together consecutive kills by Rosenmeier and Parapunov for a 15-9 lead. That was all the cushion they needed as an ace by
Gage Worsley put UH ahead 21-13.
The match featured the NCAA RPI's No. 4 (UCI) and No. 5 (UH) teams, which likely meant the winner had a leg up for an at-large spot into the seven-team NCAA Championship.
#HawaiiMVB
