RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Mauli'a La Barre consoled senior Daniel Rasay after Hawaii was defeated by Long Beach State last night.

Warriors’ run
ends early

Long Beach State defeats Hawaii
in four games in the MPSF
quarterfinals

The big obstacles were out of the way before the match even started at the Stan Sheriff Center last night. Both Hawaii and Long Beach State knew it.

No. 2 UCLA ... gone.

No. 3 Brigham Young ... gone.

The upset losses by the Bruins and Cougars in last night's quarterfinals blew the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament wide open. Add the Warriors to the list left wondering what would have happened had they been able to make it to Thursday's semifinals at Pepperdine.

Yassir Sliti put down 19 kills and fifth-seeded Long Beach State won the serve-and-pass game in eliminating Hawaii 30-23, 30-25, 23-30, 30-22 in 2 hours, 10 minutes. The Warriors end the year at 19-9, while the 49ers take a 21-9 record into Thursday's semifinal with UC Santa Barbara.

"A bad night for the home teams," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said, noting that all three of the hosts had their respective seasons ended last night. "Both coaches said it would come down to serve and pass, and they did both just a little better tonight than we did."

"We needed to find some consistency," Hawaii hitter Matt Bender said after putting down a match-high 20 kills. "I don't think we were thinking ahead (to next week). We were focused on Long Beach. They're a good team, probably the best team in the league right now."

It was the 12th win in their last 14 matches for the 49ers, who got 17 kills each from middle Duncan Budinger and outside Robert Tarr. Budinger hit an outrageous .773 with no errors in 22 swings.

Hawaii countered with 16 kills from Pedro Azenha, playing his last match as a Warrior; he hit .156. Sophomore middle Dio Dante tied his career high with 10 kills, hitting .909 with no errors in 11 attempts. In three matches with Long Beach this season, Dante had no errors in a combined 34 attempts, with 28 kills.

"It was a tough way to lose, especially at home," Warrior setter Brian Beckwith said. "Their ball control was more consistent tonight and they came out after us. It was a tough loss. We wanted to do something for our home crowd, for Hawaii."

A turnstile crowd of 3,483 (3,856 tickets) waited for Azenha to tee off from both the service line and the outside. It never really happened.

"That's the one thing we wanted to make sure didn't happen," 49er coach Alan Knipe said. "Pedro is a great player, a great server."

As Azenha went in Game 1 so did the Warriors. Hawaii's biggest lead was three, the last at 11-8, thanks to errorless hitting.

UH's first error came when Azenha could do nothing with a ball that was set wide of the antenna, pulling the 49ers to 11-10. The Beach caught UH at 12 with the game tied six more times before the 49ers ran way.

A kill by Sliti set up Budinger's 4-0 serving run that gave Long Beach a 25-19 cushion. Hawaii never got closer than five the rest of the way.

It was deja vu in Game 2. Hawaii again led early, at 8-3 and 12-5.

The Warriors again couldn't hold on when facing Budinger's serve. His 4-0 run got the 49ers to within 12-11; within minutes they led 17-16.

Next thing the Warriors knew, the hole was 23-17 and there was no escape.

Hawaii turned the tables on Long Beach in Game 3, dominating at the net with 6.5 blocks. Two of the stuffs came on consecutive plays when Azenha and Mauli'a LaBarre blocked Sliti twice in taking a 20-11 lead. LaBarre, who did not play in the Long Beach series two weeks ago, had four kills in helping the Warriors force Game 4.

"After Game 3, I was thinking that Hawaii played the way they played when they beat us in three (April 8)," 49er setter Tyler Hildebrand said. "I knew we had to play the way once more the way we knew how to play otherwise they were going to come back and give us a hell of a run. We did not want it to go five."

It didn't.

The 49ers again found their ball control and a renewed block. They had six stuffs over the final 20 minutes, including one on Bender that gave them their largest lead at 22-15.

Hawaii continued to have no answer for Budinger, and Tarr finally got free, scoring three of Long Beach's final four points.

Note: Pedro Azenha had no aces last night, finishing his career tied with Costas Theocharidis as the school leader with 121. Azenha hit the mark in three seasons, while Theocharidis did it in four.

Long Beach State def. Hawaii

30-23, 30-25, 23-30, 30-22

49ers (21-9)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Hildebrand	4	2	1	3	.333	1	5	4
Hagstrom	3	1	1	3	.000	0	0	1
Liles	4	6	3	11	.273	0	4	4
Sliti	4	19	8	40	.275	0	1	2
Budinger	4	17	0	22	.773	1	3	3
Tarr	4	17	7	30	.333	0	3	5
Caldwell	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	3
Lotman	4	7	2	17	.263	0	3	5
Valdez	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Munoz	4	0	1	1	-1.000	0	0	12
Totals	4	69	23	129	.357	2	19	39
Warriors (19-9)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Klinger	3	5	3	9	.222	0	2	1
Carere	4	5	4	15	.067	0	2	2
Beckwith	4	0	0	0	.000	0	7	5
Azenha	4	16	9	45	.156	0	5	3
Bender	4	20	10	44	.227	0	4	5
Dante	4	10	0	11	.909	0	8	0
Hakala	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Reft	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	9
Schkud	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
La Barre	2	6	3	11	.273	0	6	0
Rasay	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Totals	4	62	29	135	.244	0	34	25

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- LBSU (1): Budinger. Hawaii (2): Beckwith 2. Assists -- LBSU (64): Hildebrand 57, Munoz 2, Lotman, Caldwell, Budinger, Sliti, Liles. Hawaii (61): Beckwith 56, Reft 3, Dante, Bender.
T -- 2:10. Officials -- Marvin Hall, Wayne Lee. A -- 3,483.