HONOLULU – The fourth-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team dropped the Big West series opener to No. 1 Long Beach State, Friday in front of a sold-out crowd at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-21, 25-18, 18-25, 25-21.
 
Heading into Friday's match, the teams were tied atop the Big West standings at 5-1.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (22-4, 5-2 BWC) played the match without kill leader Kristian Titriyski, who was nursing an injury suffered last weekend. In his place, freshman Finn Kearney switched back to his natural opposite spot and led the team with 17 kills and three blocks.
 
Adrien Roure tallied 12 kills, six digs, and two blocks and Louis Sakanoko added 11 kills and four digs. Setter Tread Rosenthal recorded his first double-double of the season with 40 assists and 13 digs, while leading the UH offensive attack to a .294 hitting percentage.
 
The Beach (24-1, 6-1) were led by Daniil Hershtynovich's 17 kills. Alex Kandev hit .440 with 15 kills and three aces.
 
The sellout was the 14^th all-time in program history. Saturday's match is also sold out, marking the first consecutive sellouts since 1996.

Crowd is ROURE-ING🔊 pic.twitter.com/k3XBvdRyx4

— Hawai'i Men's Volleyball (@HawaiiMensVB) April 12, 2025

 
UH got off to slow starts in the first two sets. Long Beach led 6-1 in Set 1 and that was all the cushion they needed as the closest Hawai'i would get was two the rest of the way. The Beach led 6-2 and 10-4 in Set 2. UH's 4-1 run pulled them to within two at 16-14 but Long Beach pulled away with five straight for a 21-14 lead.
 
Hawai'i led early in Set 3 then extended its lead to five at 19-14 after a four-point run. UH would go on to close out the set on a 10-4 extended run to force a fourth set.
 
In the fourth, UH led for the better part of the set, surging ahead 15-12 at the media timeout. But with the Warriors leading 20-18, the Beach ran off four straight and after a service error, scored the final three points of the match.
 
The teams play against on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. Following the match, five seniors – Eleu Choy, Kawai Hong, Kurt Nusterer, Zachary Thompson, and Clay Wieter – will be honored during the traditional Senior Night ceremony.