LONG BEACH, Calif. – The top-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team gave everything they had but fell two points short in a five-set thriller to No. 2 Long Beach State, Saturday at the Walter Pyramid. Set scores were 25-20, 20-25, 25-23, 24-26, 15-13.
The Rainbow Warriors (17-3, 0-2 BWC) dropped both matches in the two-match series to the Beach but not before career performances by several players in Saturday's loss.
Keoni Thiim tallied a career-high and match-high 20 kills along with two aces, seven digs, and one block while
Louis Sakanoko posted 19 kills, nine digs, one ace, and three blocks.
One night after falling in three close sets, Hawai'i extended the match to the limit despite committing a season-high 32 attack errors along with 26 service errors. Much of the errors were attributed to the Beach's big frontline that produced 20.5 team blocks and limited UH to .248 hitting. Hawai'i managed six service aces compared to the Beach's three.
LBSU (18-1, 4-0) was led by Sotiris Siapanis' 17 kills and 11 digs. Skyler Varga added 15 kills and six blocks while Simon Torwie finished with 10 blocks and six kills. Diaeris McRaven had eight blocks.
UH setter
Tread Rosenthal added a double-double with 57 assists and 15 digs while
Alaka'i Todd posted 16 kills and three blocks.
Hawai'i evened the match at 2-2 after scoring the final three points of Set 4, erasing one match point in the process. But in Set 5, the Warriors could not overcome a 4-1 run that put the Beach ahead 14-11. UH managed to fend off two more match points but Siapanis kill from the backrow ended it.
Sakanoko entered the match in Set 2 and after recording six combined kills in Set 2 and 3, the Frenchman tallied 10 kills in the fourth set alone, including a thunderous kill with score tied at 21. Thiim was equally as impressive, recording six kills each in Sets 3 and 4.
The Beach took a 6-3 lead to start Set 5 but an ace by Todd closed the deficit to one. UH eventually tied it at 8 but with the score knotted at 10, the Beach scored two straight with Torwie's kill and block on consecutive plays. After a kill by Voss, Torwie had two more blocks for a 14-11 lead. Sakanoko's 19
th kill erased one match point and an attack error by Varga pulled UH to within one. But after a scramble play, Siapanis backrow kill ended the match.
Hawai'i returns to Honolulu for its final homestand of the season beginning with a two-match series against CSUN, Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
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