HONOLULU – The fourth-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team rallied for a thrilling five-set victory over top-ranked Long Beach State in a Big West match-up at a sold-out SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 21-25, 25-20, 18-25, 25-19, 15-13.
Following the match, seniors
'Eleu Choy,
Kawai Hong,
Kurt Nusterer,
Zachary Thompson, and
Clay Wieter were honored in the traditional Senior Night ceremony. The match was played before a second straight sold-out crowd of 10,300, marking the first back-to-back sellouts since 1996.
The Rainbow Warriors (23-4, 6-2 BWC) rallied from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 in the match to stay even with the Beach in the Big West standings at 6-2. Long Beach had a chance to clinch the regular season title and No. 1 seed in the Big West Championship with a victory.
Hawai'i would not let that happen as freshman
Finn Kearney led the way for the second straight night with a match-high 17 kills, hitting .343. The Phoenix, Ariz., native started again at opposite for an injured
Kristian Titriyski and even moved to outside hitter in the second and third sets.
Kurt Nusterer tallied a career-high 10 kills in 12 errorless attempts and had a team-high six blocks.
Louis Sakanoko added nine kills, including on UH's last two points in the fifth set, along with four digs and two blocks.
Tread Rosenthal led the offense with 44 assists and posted nine digs, two blocks, two kills, and an ace.
The Beach (24-2, 6-2) were led by Alex Kandev's 16 kills. Skyler Varga (14) and Daniil Hershtynovich (12) also reached double-figures in kills.
The Warriors masterfully handled the nation's ace leader Moni Nikolov over the two matches, not allowing a single ace in the series. Most of the credit should be given to Choy, who was the recipient of many of Nikolov's serves. The Beach finished with five aces in the match however committed 27 service errors, compared to only 17 for Hawai'i. UH tallied two aces in the match.
After Long Beach took the opening set, UH head coach
Charlie Wade inserted his son
Kainoa Wade in the lineup at opposite and the freshman tallied four kills in the set. UH's lead was 18-17 until a 5-0 run that included two kills and a block by Nusterer all but tied the match at 1-1.
The Beach led from start to finish in Set 3 and the Warriors never trailed in the fourth. A 4-0 run that included a Rosenthal ace made it 20-15 and went on to even the match on Kearney's set winner.
UH led 6-3 early in the deciding fifth set before the Beach tied it at 7 after a 4-1 run. The Warriors answered with a 4-1 of their own for an 11-8 lead, capped by a Nusterer solo block on Kandev, one of his four attack errors in the set. The Beach tied it at 12 and again at 13 before Sakanoko's deep shot gave UH match point. On the very next play, his roll shot in the middle of the court set off a wild celebration.
Hawai'i will close out the regular season with a pair of matches at UC Santa Barbara, Friday, April 18 and Saturday, April 19 in Santa Barbara, Calif.
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