No. 7 Long Beach State Falls in Four to No. 1 Hawai’i

Friday, April 2

Manoa, Hawaii

10:00 PM

Long Beach State University

3-2,3-2Big West

Hawaii

10-0,5-0Big West

Long Beach St.

Hawaii

Photo by: John Fajardo

4/3/2021 1:09:00 AM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Spencer Olivier led the Beach with 14 kills, five blocks, and three digs

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Box Score (PDF)

HONOLULU – The No. 7 Long Beach State men's volleyball team battled the top-ranked Rainbow Warriors of Hawai'i on Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, Hawai'i and dropped a four-set contest by scores of 25-23, 14-25, 13-25, 24-26.

After rallying to win the first set, the Beach (3-2 overall, 3-2 Big West), went cold as Hawai'i (10-0 overall, 5-0 Big West) earned a pair of convincing wins in sets two and three. However, the Big West Conference foes battled through a hard-fought fourth set that saw the Bows squeak out a 26-24 victory to claim the set and match.

Spencer Olivier led the LBSU charge with 14 kills, five blocks, and three digs, while Clarke Godbold collected 10 kills in the match. The pair have now tallied four-straight double-digit kill performances.

Ryan Poole got the start at setter, the first of his career, and dished out a career-high 29 assists to go along three digs and two blocks.

Defensively, Long Beach State was led by freshman libero Mason Briggs who logged 10 digs, marking his third double-figure dig effort of the year.

Hawai'i opened the match with an early lead in the first set, but Long Beach State remained close throughout. Sparked by a kill from Olivier, the Beach went on a 5-0 run to even the score at 19-all. That run seemed to give LBSU the momentum it needed to come from behind and take the first set because following the five-straight points, the Beach took the lead, 21-20, on a double block by Shane Holdaway and Simon Torwie which forced a Hawai'i timeout. From there, Long Beach State pushed it to set point on a kill from Godbold, before Simon Andersen closed it out with a kill of his own.

With a 1-0 set lead, Long Beach State fell behind early in both the second and third sets and was unable to overcome the early Hawai'i leads. In both sets, the Rainbow Warriors led throughout and cruised to a pair of double-digit wins.

Down two sets to one, Long Beach State seemed to find its groove again in the fourth set as the Beach regrouped and battled the Bows through a back-and-forth affair, which saw 14 ties and half a dozen lead changes.

The closely contested match was pushed to set point first by the Bows following a kill from Patrick Gasman as Hawai'i was one point (24-22) away from winning the set and match. However, Long Beach State would not go away quietly. A team known for its grit and determination, LBSU battled back and forced UH to commit back-to-back errors as the Beach evened the score at 24-24. However, Hawai'i closed out the set and match with a double block followed by a kill to win in four sets.

The Bows had three players reach double-digit kills as Rado Parapunov led the way with 17, while Colton Cowell added 14, and Chaz Galloway recorded 10. Setter Jakob Thelle finished the match with 44 assists as he guided the Bows to a .265 attack percentage, a mark much lower than their season average of .379 thanks to solid defense from the Beach. Defensively, Gage Worsley concluded the match with 14 digs, while Gasman and Cowell each put up eight blocks.

Long Beach State looks to bounce back against Hawai'i on Saturday, April 3. First serve is set for 10 p.m. (PT) as the Beach and Bows battle it out at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, Hawai'i.