No. 2 Long Beach State Knocks off No. 1 Hawai’i to Capture Big West Regular Season Title on Senior Night

Saturday, April 13

Long Beach, Calif.

7:00 PM

Long Beach State University

Hawaii

Louis Richard, Kyle Ensing, Jordan Molina,

Photo by: John Fajardo

No. 2 Long Beach State Knocks off No. 1 Hawai’i to Capture Big West Regular Season Title on Senior Night

4/14/2019 1:05:00 AM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

The Beach clinch the No. 1 seed in the Big West Tournament with a five-set victory over Hawai’i

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Hear what the @LBSUMVB seniors had to say about the team's 3-2 victory over Hawaii on Senior Night #GoBeach #LBNation https://t.co/rM6soddxZ3 via @LBSUAthletics
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) April 14, 2019

Box Score (PDF) | Play-By-Play (PDF)

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LONG BEACH, Calif. – The No. 2 Long Beach State men's volleyball team earned a hard-fought 3-2 [25-16, 18-25, 13-25, 25-23, 15-10] victory over top-ranked Hawaii on Saturday night in front of a record-breaking crowd at the Walter Pyramid to capture the 2019 Big West Regular Season Title and clinch the No. 1 seed heading into the Big West Tournament.

#2 Long Beach State collects a 15-10 win over #1 Hawaii in the fifth set to defeat the 'Bows, 3-2, and win the Big West Conference Regular Season Title #GoBeach #LBNation pic.twitter.com/wumZeJJ9Bm
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) April 14, 2019

The Beach improved to 25-1 on the year and finish Big West action with a perfect 10-0 conference mark. Long Beach State has now won a program-record 41 straight home contests as the Beach have not lost a match inside the Pyramid since March 26, 2016.

Hawaii, meanwhile, drops to 25-2 overall and 8-2 in league play. Coming into Long Beach, the Rainbow Warriors boasted a program-record 25-match winning streak and had dropped just one set all season before falling in back-to-back matches to LBSU.

Saturday night's crowd of 4,674 set a new Walter Pyramid record besting the previous mark of 4,560 spectators set last season at the Long Beach State men's volleyball match against then-No. 2 UCLA on Feb. 17. The standing room only crowd was treated to an exciting five-set contest followed by a postgame senior ceremony that recognized the six LBSU seniors in Louis Richard, Kyle Ensing, Jordan Molina, Josh Tuaniga, TJ DeFalco, and Nick Amado.

The half dozen seniors each contributed to the Beach's victory in their own way. DeFalco led the team with a season-high 21 kills, while adding 11 digs, and a career-high eight blocks. Tuaniga paced the offense with 46 assists as he led the squad to a .348 attack percentage. Ensing added nine kills, six digs, four blocks, and a pair of assists, while Amado contributed six blocks, and five kills while hitting .300 in the match. Molina anchored the LBSU defense with four digs and helped hold the nation's top-hitting 'Bows to under .300 in the match, while Richard came off the bench and recorded a key kill to spark the Beach's comeback win.

While the seniors led the way, sophomore Ethan Siegfried earned the starting nod and made the most of his showing as he notched his first collegiate double-double with a career-high 16 kills and 10 digs to go along with four blocks, while hitting .556 (16-1-27).

The Beach started the match off hot as they hit .500 in the opening set with 13 kills on 22 swings while posting a sideout percentage of 87%. With the offense rolling, the LBSU defense kept the 'Bows off balance limiting Hawaii to a mere .040 attack percentage as the visitors committed seven attack errors to counteract their eight kills.

Long Beach State broke an 11-11 tie on a triple block by Ensing, Siegfried, and Amado which sparked a 4-0 LBSU run as the Beach took a 14-11 lead and never looked back. From there, Long Beach State led the rest of the way and put some distance between itself and Hawaii as the Beach took the first set, 25-16, on a block by DeFalco, Ensing, and Amado.

Hawaii would fight back and claim the next two sets winning the second game 25-18 and the third 25-13 to take a 2-1 set lead over Long Beach State. However, the Beach never quit as they battled back in a gritty fourth set that saw 10 ties and three lead changes.

LBSU took advantage of a service error by the 'Bows to go up 17-16 and followed that with back-to-back kills from DeFalco and Simon Andersen forcing a Hawaii timeout as the Beach led 19-16. Following the break in action, Long Beach State pushed it to set point, 24-20, on a Hawaii attack error. With things going the Beach's way, Hawaii battled back and made it a one-point game (24-23) as LBSU utilized a timeout. Coming out of the break, Ensing slammed a kill too end the set and force a fifth and deciding game.

Long Beach State wins set four, 25-23, over Hawaii to force a fifth set #GoBeach #LBNation pic.twitter.com/yo81BN3pVQ
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) April 14, 2019

The Beach and the 'Bows began the fifth set trading points, but Long Beach State quickly took control rattling off four-straight points to go up 6-2. LBSU then used a 5-1 run to extend its lead to seven (11-4) as Hawaii called for a timeout. The break did little to stop the Beach as they surged forward and took it to match point on a block by Amado and Siegfried (14-9). With a packed house on their feet, the Beach got a kill off the hands of Siegfried to end the set and match, 15-10.

Long Beach State finished the match with 15.5 total team blocks – the most the Beach has posted all season. DeFalco led the way with eight blocks, while Andersen added seven, and Amado recorded six.

Hawaii had three players reach double-figures with Stijn van Tilburg leading the way with 17 kills. Rado Parapunov and Patrick Gasman had 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Setter Joe Worsley had a double-double with 46 kills and 12 digs, while libero Gage Worsley also registered 12 digs.

Long Beach State is the No. 1 seed in the Big West Conference Tournament and has earned a bye into the semifinals of the tournament. The Beach will play the winner of the No. 4 seed UC Santa Barbara / No. 5 seed CSUN quarterfinals match. The semifinal contest will be held in Honolulu, Hawaii on Friday, April 19.