HONOLULU — After two wild nights of sweeps — one for, one against — between Hawaii and Long Beach State, the fierce men’s volleyball rivals could finally take a breath and assess their battle damage.
Certainly, the two exposed the other in multiple ways in a little over 24 hours at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
On Friday, the Beach—the most recent national champion besides two-time defending titlist UH — silenced the crowd and Rainbow Warriors alike in hitting nearly .500 and ending the match in shockingly quick fashion. With a home loss for the second straight weekend, UH had to again acknowledge that it is vulnerable when it does not play at its best.
Then the Rainbow Warriors gave the Beach something to think about with a sweep in kind, 25-16, 25-23, 25-23, dominating in serve and pass and outdoing the top blocking team in the land, handily, with an 11-2 stuffs advantage.
“For just about everybody with the program, you take it a little personally… to represent the state, to represent the university, to show the fans how much we appreciate them coming out,” coach Charlie Wade said.
Beach coach Alan Knipe spoke to his team at length afterward in one of the SSC’s visitors’ locker rooms. But when he exited, he said both teams could be satisfied with the split; he was pleased with his team’s play in five of the six sets.
UH (18-2, 1-1) and LBSU (12-3, 3-1) won’t encounter each other again until a theoretical postseason matchup or matchups in the Big West and NCAA tournaments, as happened last spring.
“I think there’s a lot that both teams would probably like and I think they learn a lot about themselves,” LBSU coach Alan Knipe told Spectrum News after his team’s hitting dropped to .247 in Saturday’s match. “You put yourselves in situations that feel like playoff games and work through it, good or bad.”
It’s an open question whether UH will still be the No. 1 team in the country after falling to No.4 LBSU when the new AVCA poll comes out on Monday. No. 2 Penn State, which beat UH in the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational, swept Saint Francis (Pa.) in its only match of the week.
Regardless, UH picked up something valuable heading into this week’s road matches against Cal State Northridge, according to setter Jakob Thelle.
An edge.
Thelle called Saturday’s outing — .385 team hitting while siding out at 73% — the new minimum standard for the team as it navigates the rest of the Big West schedule.
“We’re not good enough to win everything and just think that we can play our around 70% game. That’s not how it is,” Thelle said. “The top is a very high level at Division I and we just have to prove that we can get in every single day, no matter who we play against, and play our best volleyball. That’s what we have to do to be at the NCAA (tournament) in the end and win it.”
Predictably, UH came out with a level of intensity that was several notches higher than its listless performance on Friday.
Chaz Galloway, one of the few ‘Bows who came to play Friday, was sharp again Saturday with 11 kills on 21 swings, hitting .429. Spyros Chakas, who struggled mightily in hitting in the negative Friday, reverted to his usual self with 10 kills and a career-high six blocks.
The match turned in UH’s favor for good with a controversial end to Set 2. After LBSU rallied on Clarke Godbold’s serve to seemingly tie the set at 24, UH challenged that there was a Beach net violation on a joust between Cole Hogland and Sotiris Siapanis.
The Beach was floored by the overturn. Siapanis, who appeared incensed at the officials, had to be restrained by teammates.
Knipe reacted strongly as well and, for several minutes, tried to get an explanation from official Dickson Chun even after his team had gone back to the locker room for the break between Sets 2 and 3.
“It was a call, so it has to be unequivocally obvious. That wasn’t the answer I was getting,” Knipe told Spectrum News. “So I wanted to get a clear-cut what was the call? Because it was a no call. So to flip it is a big deal, especially in that moment, to end the set. So, I wanted to hear, not emotionally, what the call was and where the infraction happened, 100% solid to be able to flip it, and that was the discussion.
“Eventually we got the answer of what he saw (on the replay monitor). That’s all I was trying to get.”
Spencer Olivier continued his run of strong games against UH with 14 kills on .417 hitting. Godbold put down 11 kills and Sotiris, who hit better than .500 on Friday, was held to nine kills and seven errors (0.67).
Set 3 was tight the whole way. Godbold gave the Beach the lead for the last time at 23-22. Chakas tied it up with a kill and Olivier and Godbold were blocked on consecutive plays to end the match; Shakas was in on both.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.