LONG BEACH, Calif. >> There is no love lost between Hawaii and Long Beach State, so the No. 2 Warriors were more than happy to take out their frustrations on the 49ers yesterday. Warriors grab road
win in Long BeachFrom staff and wire reports
Before a crowd of 853 at The Pyramid, Hawaii defeated Long Beach State 30-23, 30-22, 36-38, 30-22. The Warriors bounced back from the beating by UC Irvine in a big way.
"Some of our goals for the match were to come and play hard as a team," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "We did. We had a momentary lapse in Game 3. Any time you come off of a loss where the team didn't show up, you have to be concerned. People remember things. That was a helpless feeling against UC Irvine. It might have extended the doldrums of Game 3.
"They (the 49ers) were struggling very much in Game 1 and 2. They came out fired up and we were semi-asleep by then. We started playing worse and worse. We were making a lot of unforced errors."
But the Warriors cleaned up enough to improve to 7-2 overall and 3-2 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play. Fifth-ranked Long Beach State has lost three of its last four matches and dropped to 7-4 and 3-3.
The Warriors got double-double performances from seniors Tony Ching (19 kills, 10 digs) and Costas Theocharidis (17 kills, 11 digs). Sophomore Delano Thomas chipped in 12 kills and four aces.
Ching was steady all night after struggling the last few matches. The Warriors didn't have to use much of their bench, though setter Daniel Rasay did enter Game 4 to help Hawaii close.
Scott Touzinsky unloaded a match-high 26 kills for the 49ers. Long Beach was just as balanced as Hawaii, with two other players in double-digit kills -- Clint Coe (12) and Jeff Wootton (10). But the 49ers couldn't shake bad passing and terrible serving. Long Beach was aced seven times and missed 24 serves.
The Warriors shrugged off a slow start in Game 1 and caught the 49ers at 13-13 after trailing by four early in the match. Two kills from Theocharidis started a 4-0 run that put Hawaii up for good.
Hawaii took advantage of bad passing by the Beach in Game 2 to rack up five aces. Senior Eyal Zimet got the Warriors going and finished the 49ers off with another serve that dribbled over the net.
Zimet showed no signs of the back problems that bothered him last weekend against UC Irvine. He finished the match with nine kills, three aces and six digs.
After going up 2-0 in the match, Hawaii couldn't shut the door on Long Beach. The Warriors had eight match points in Game 3 but didn't capitalize. Their last opportunity came at 36-35. Long Beach, on the other hand, took advantage of its first opportunity to extend the match.
Yassir Sliti (a 6-foot-6 middle blocker who initially committed to Hawaii two years ago but changed his mind) blasted a kill and served an ace in the decisive two-point swing. Middle David Lee stuffed Thomas for the game.
"We could have and should have won the game," Wilton said. "Long Beach didn't always sideout. We had swings at match ball and we would figure out a way to muff it. That was crummy and we carried that over in Game 4. We got smoother as the match went on."
Neither team seemed to want to win Game 4. Hawaii and Long Beach traded kills and service errors for eight ties before the Warriors took control at 23-18. This time, Hawaii kept the pressure on Long Beach and didn't let it back into the game.
The teams meet again tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. Hawaii has had trouble winning the second night against the same opponent, as it split with UCI and Stanford.
"They're capable of playing way better than they showed tonight," Wilton said. "This is the MPSF. Beating anyone 3-0 in this league is an accomplishment."
Hawaii def. Long Beach St.
30-23, 30-22, 36-38, 30-22Warriors (7-2, 3-2 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Tuyay 4 2 2 6 .000 0 3 0 Zimet 4 9 3 21 .286 0 2 6 Theocharidis 4 17 4 42 .310 0 2 11 Ching 4 19 6 32 .406 0 2 10 Thomas 4 12 4 16 .500 0 5 4 Stanhiser 4 6 1 9 .556 1 4 0 Motter 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Bender 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Nordberg 3 4 0 6 .667 0 0 1 Rasay 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Totals 4 69 20 132 .371 1 18 41 49ers (7-4, 3-3 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Wootton 4 10 4 27 .222 0 0 9 Coe 4 12 4 23 .348 0 3 2 Hildebrand 4 3 0 6 .500 1 3 6 Touzinsky 4 26 9 48 .354 0 3 5 Budinger 2 1 1 4 .000 0 0 1 Lee 4 8 1 19 .368 2 5 0 White 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 10 Hagstrom 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Kijewski 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Sliti 3 6 2 10 .400 0 4 1 Meine 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Totals 4 66 21 137 .328 3 18 37 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--Hawaii (7): Thomas 4, Zimet 3. LBSU: None.
Assists--Hawaii (67): Tuyay 53, Rasay 10, Motter, Theocharidis, Zimet. LBSU(66):Hildebrand 61, White 3, Wootton 2.
T--1:48. Officials--Ron Stahl, Bob Oshita. A--853.
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