Hawaii swept away by Long Beach State

There is no room for error in rally scoring. One lapse, one blink, one bad pass and the momentum is changed ... permanently.

Such was the case for the No. 12 Hawaii men's volleyball team last night. The Warriors had game point on No. 6 Long Beach State in the pivotal Game 3 at 30-29 only to see the 49ers score three straight points to steal the momentum and the win.

For only the second time in its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation history, Hawaii dropped both ends of a season-opening series, falling for the second consecutive night to Long Beach State 30-32, 30-20, 32-30, 30-26 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

A turnstile crowd of 1,474 (2,679 tickets) saw Hawaii lose its third straight in dropping to 0-2 in MPSF play, 1-4 overall. The 49ers improved to 4-0 and 2-0 after 2 hours and 26 minutes.

Dean Bittner and Paul Lotman each had 26 kills and Dan Alexander added 14 for the Beach, which outblocked Hawaii 12-10.5. Lotman, Alexander and Fletcher Anderson were in on five blocks each as the 49ers narrowed the gap in the series to 33-31.

Senior opposite Jake Schkud and freshman setter-turned-hitter Nejc Zemljak each had 14 kills. Senior hitter Brock Hutchins added 12.

"I thought we played well as a team," said Hawaii freshman middle Keali'i Frank, in on six of UH's blocks. "There isn't much difference between the two teams. I think it came down to serving and they served tough."

Although the 49ers only had four aces, their tough serving created problems with the Warriors' transition game and made for a predictable Hawaii offense.

"I thought we passed well, too," 49ers coach Alan Knipe said. "There were a lot of long rallies that forced us to play well and we got those rallies to go our way. When you can do that, win a couple of points, that can mean the difference in the game, as it did tonight."

The teams were fairly even and Hawaii looked as if it would force Game 5 with its solid play early in Game 4. The Warriors tied it at 18-18 and 21-21 only to have a kill by Lotman give Long Beach State the lead for good at 22-21.

Hawaii pulled within 28-26, but Lotman's 26th kill and a mis-set to Hawaii middle Matt Rawson ended it.

"All we can hope for is for us to continue to get better," Warrior setter Sean Carney said. "Credit them, they came out and were very focused.

"We didn't let them walk over us. It was a tough battle. A couple of points here and there ... and there it is. We'll learn from this."

Hawaii has the week off before returning to MPSF play when hosting UC San Diego on Jan. 23 and 25.

Notes

Junior libero Brent Asuka (Iolani '05) had a match-high 13 digs as defending NCAA champion UC Irvine swept Pacific 30-27, 30-26, 30-24 last night ... Sophomore setter Kawika Shoji (Iolani '07) had 50 assists and an ace and freshman hitter Spencer McLachlin had five kills in Stanford's 30-19, 30-24, 24-30, 30-18 loss at UCLA ... Tri Bourne (AOP '07) had a kill and a block assist in USC's sweep of UC Santa Barbara, 30-23, 30-26, 30-19.