HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team captured its second Big West Championship tournament title with a grueling straight-set win over rival Long Beach State Saturday night in front of a raucous crowd at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 27-25, 28-26, 25-23.
In a rematch of the 2019 final, the second-seeded Rainbow Warriors (24-5) claimed the title and the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Championship in Los Angeles. The NCAA Selection Show is scheduled for Sunday at 7:00 a.m. HT.
Tournament Most Valuable Player
Jakob Thelle directed UH to a .368 hitting percentage for the match, including .452 in the third set. The Tonsberg, Norway native dished out 43 assists and added 11 digs for his second double-double of the season.
Dimitrios Mouchlias and
Spyros Chakas each tallied 16 kills for the Warriors, who also received a boost from
Chaz Galloway (7 kills, 5 digs) and
Guilherme Voss (7 kills, 5 blocks).
The top-seeded Beach (20-5) were led by Alex Nikolov, who had a match-high 19 kills with two aces and four blocks.
The win capped a perfect home season (18-0) for Hawai'i, who avenged two losses to the Beach earlier this month in Long Beach. The match-up was the third Big West Championship tilt between the teams.
The first set featured 16 ties and five lead changes. UH led 17-15 after an ace by
Keoni Thiim. The Beach tied it at 18 and again at 21 after an ace by Nikolov. The Beach jumped ahead 23-22 and had set point at 24-23 and 25-24. A kill by Chakas gave UH set point and the Beach committed a net violation to end it.
LBSU held an early 9-4 lead in Set 2. UH slowly chipped away and tied it at 15 after an ace by Mouchlias. The teams traded side-outs until the Beach went ahead 20-18 after a natural point. UH responded to tie it at 20 after a Galloway overpass kill. The Beach had three set points but the Warriors erased all three before a Voss-Mouchlias double block gave UH its own set point, which Mouchlias put away to send the crowd into a frenzy.
UH erased another early deficit in Set 3 to tie it at 11 and surged ahead 14-11. UH maintained the cushion until the Beach pulled with in one at 22-21 after a kill by Spencer Olivier. The teams traded points the rest of the way and Chakas' kill on match point gave Hawai'i the championship.
#HawaiiMVB
