LONG BEACH, Calif. – The top-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team saw its bid for an undefeated season come to an end following a five-set loss to defending national champion No. 2 Long Beach State Friday at the Walter Pyramid. Set scores were 24-26, 25-22, 16-25, 25-16, 15-13. 
 
The Rainbow Warriors (25-1, 8-1 BWC) suffered their first loss of the season after 25 consecutive wins. UH, which was attempting to become just the fourth team in NCAA history to finish a season undefeated, can avenge the loss when the two teams meet again on Saturday in the regular season finale.
 
With the win, the 49ers (24-1, 9-0) got the edge in the battle for the regular season conference title and the No. 1 seed in next week's Big West Tournament. LBSU extended its home win streak to 39 matches and nearly saw it come to an end after the Warriors took a 2-1 lead in the match after a 25-16 rout in Set 3.
 
Kyle Ensing and TJ DeFalco led the Beach with 18 kills apiece. LBSU hit .344 in the match with 10 aces and 14 blocks. DeFalco had four aces and Ensing tallied seven blocks.
 
Rado Parapunov had a match-high 21 kills for the Warriors, who hit for a season-low .322 for the match. Stijn van Tilburg added 16 kills, hitting .500 while Patrick Gasman added nine kills and five blocks. 
 
In Set 1, the Warriors gained the early advantage, scoring four straight for a 6-3 lead. UH maintained the advantage through much of the set, even taking a 20-13 lead after a 5-1 run. But the Beach slowly mounted a comeback closing to within 21-18 after a Simon Anderson ace. Parapunov's fourth kill got the Warrior to set point at 24-19 but the Beach reeled off five straight points behind the serving of DeFalco to tie it at 24. A DeFalco service error gave UH its sixth set point and Cowell ended it, with a touch off the block. 
 
A 5-0 scoring run gave the Beach a 7-4 lead to start Set 2. The Warriors tied it at 8 but the Beach extended the lead to 15-11 after a 4-1 run that included three Ensing kills. UH closed to within 20-19 after an ace by Brett Rosenmeier. But the teams traded side-outs until the Beach scored the final two points on kills by Ethan Siegfried and DeFalco. 
 
UH jumped out to a 6-2 lead in Set 3. The lead was 10-4 after a Cowell service ace and LBSU attack error and 13-6 after back-to-back kills by van Tilburg and Parapunov. The Warriors led by as many as nine and cruised to victory with the hep of two aces and three blocks and a hitting percentage of .471.
 
The Beach scored four of the first five points in Set 4 and that was all the momentum they needed. Although UH closed to within one at 12-11 after a van Tilburg backrow kill, the Beach scored five straight for a 17-11 kill. Back-to-back aces by DeFalco gave the 49ers an insurmountable 20-12 lead as the Beach would serve up five aces in the set and hit .545.
 
In the race to 15 fifth set, LBSU scored five unanswered sparked by DeFalco's serving for an 8-3 lead.  The Warriors rallied back with four straight, including consecutive kills by Parapunov and van Tilburg. UH tied it at 9 after a LBSU hitting error. But two straight points by the Beach gave them an 11-9 lead and they sided-out the rest of the way with a kill by Nick Amado to seal the win. 
 
Saturday's rematch begins at 4:00 p.m. HT and will be televised on Spectrum Sports.