No. 2 Long Beach State beats No. 4 Hawaii to sweep series

Hawaii relied closely on the left-handed creation of Rado Parapunov in developing towards a national championship.

Alex Nikolov, a correct hander from Parapunov’s hometown in Bulgaria, now owns that purpose for Extended Seashore Condition and served power the second-ranked Seashore to a next straight four-set win about the Rainbow Warriors on Saturday.

Nikolov, a freshman outside the house hitter from Sofia, Bulgaria, place absent 18 kills to guide to the Beach front to a 25-23, 25-20, 21-25, 25-19 victory and a sequence sweep over No. 4 Hawaii at the Walter Pyramid in Prolonged Seaside, Calif.

Just after UH prolonged the match in the 3rd established, Nikolov posted seven kills, an ace and a solo block in the fourth set as the Beach (16-3, 4-1) rallied from a 5-issue deficit to shut out the match and continue to be by itself in first spot in the Massive West standings.

“He’s an out-of-program attacker and their go-to male,” UH mentor Charlie Wade said. “As a initial-yr dude, that is a awesome piece for them to add to that staff. He’s unquestionably undertaking most of the hefty lifting for them.”

Extensive Seashore State’s pin hitters once more carried the bulk of the load for the Beach, accounting for 42 of its 50 full kills. Clarke Godbold and Spencer Olivier complemented Nikolov with 12 kills every single in the to start with frequent-year men’s volleyball match to get national tv protection on ESPNU.

Nikolov hit .484 and had 12 digs, two aces and was in on five of LBSU’s period-substantial 16 blocks and the Beach hit. 350 as a team. Center blocker Simon Torwie concluded with 8 blocks and two aces.

UH center blocker Guilherme Voss posted a occupation-high 11 kills in 17 attacks and outside the house hitter Spyros Chakas also experienced 11. But the Rainbow Warriors hit a collective .174 — their 2nd cheapest proportion of the time — when falling to 18-5 general and into fourth area in the Significant West at 3-3.

Along with scoring right with its block, Long Seashore State’s touches at the internet gave the back again row, led by libero Mason Briggs’ 16 digs, a likelihood to established up possibilities to rating in transition.

UH entered the series major the Massive West with a .353 hitting percentage, but committed a time-significant 28 attack errors on Saturday and hit .208 in the collection.

“Our outside the house attackers struggled to score tonight,” Wade stated. “That’s anything we’re likely to search at heading forward. They’ve been very fantastic, we’ve hit for a rather large percentage. Hats off to (LBSU), they experienced a awesome night defensively and we’ve just gotta be a very little sharper, a minimal crisper offensively.”

Setter Jakob Thelle fired four aces to help UH lengthen the match in the third set and take a 5-issue guide early in the fourth. He also had four kills and 43 assists and appeared to get up slowly and gradually soon after going to the floor late in the match.

“He’s been a minor dinged up all weekend,” Wade claimed. “It’s that time of year, nobody’s truly 100{6932ee47e64f4ce8eedbbd5224581f6531cba18a35225771c06e4f1b3f0d9667}, but definitely a gutty overall performance from Jakob tonight to just continue to keep pushing himself and definitely major our group during.”

The Warriors and Seashore picked up in which they left off on Friday with a different again-and-forth opening established in the rematch.

UH went on a 4-1 run late in the set and led 23-21 on a Cole Hogland kill in the center. But Extensive Seashore State sent back again a few consecutive blocks to gain established point and Nikolov’s serve down the line landed in to give the Seaside the established.

The 2nd set was tied at 16-16 when LBSU went on a 3-place surge with back again-to-back aces from Torwie. The Beach front held off the Warriors the relaxation of the way and Nikolov’s tip gave LBSU a 2- guide in the match.

With Dimitrios Mouchlias and Filip Humler struggling to rating on the proper side, Alakai Todd was summoned off the bench and sparked the Warriors with 4 kills early in the 3rd set. The Beach led 11-9 when UH surged forward with a 7-1 run with aces from Thelle and Chakas. Thelle extra his 3rd ace of the set in a 4-1 operate to near out the set and increase the match.

Thelle opened the fourth set with a 5-issue company operate, together with his fourth ace of the match. Voss opened the run with a block and hammered two kills in the middle.

Down 9-4, Lengthy Seaside State outscored UH 17-6 to acquire regulate of the match with Nikolov primary the way.

”That’s just the tasty uncertainty of activity, sometimes the ball doesn’t constantly bounce your way,” Wade mentioned. “But I assume our fellas confirmed a good deal of character and competed from a superior staff on the highway and we’ll be all the improved for it.”

UH returns to Manoa for its final household collection of the normal time and faces UC Santa Barbara on Friday and Saturday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Heart.