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Long Beach State men’s volleyball falls to Hawaii in Big West tourney final

April 27, 2025

HONOLULU — The Long Beach State and Hawaii men’s volleyball teams squared off for another Big West Tournament title on Saturday, but it might not be the last time they meet this spring.

Second-seeded Hawaii got the better of top-seeded LBSU on Saturday night, handing the nation’s top-ranked team a 25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22 defeat before a lively near-capacity crowd at the Stan Sheriff Center. With the victory, the Rainbow Warriors (26-5) earned the conference’s automatic berth in next month’s NCAA Tournament, though the rivals are likely to be the top two seeds when the bracket is revealed on Sunday at 1 p.m. PT (ncaa.com).

If Long Beach and Hawaii do meet for a fourth time this season, it would presumably be May 12 in Columbus, Ohio, with the national championship at stake. MPSF regular-season champion UCLA (20-6), which lost to Pepperdine in the MPSF Tournament semifinals on Friday night, is likely to be the No. 3 seed in the NCAA field, with MIVA champion Loyola-Chicago and MPSF tourney champ Pepperdine likely seeded fourth and fifth, respectively.

The NCAA quarterfinals are Thursday, May 8, with the semifinals scheduled for Saturday, May 10.

Long Beach led Hawaii in nearly every statistical category on Saturday. LBSU held the advantage in kills (58-51), assists (56-47), aces (8-5), and blocks (8-7). The two teams were evenly matched with 24 digs apiece, while the Rainbow Warriors finished with a .411 hitting percentage to LBSU’s .342 clip.

Finn Kearney paced Hawaii with 14 kills, while Adrien Roure had 11 kills while hitting .579 to go with nine digs and was named the tournament MVP. Louis Sakanoko added eight kills and four aces (all in the decisive fourth set), as Hawaii won the Big West Tournament title for the third time in the past four years. Tread Rosenthal had five kills and 42 assists, while middle blockers Kurt Nusterer and Justin Todd hit a combined .667 with 13 kills.

Nato Dickinson led Long Beach (27-3) with a career-high 21 kills while hitting .485, and Alex Kandev has 12 kills and five blocks. Moni Nikolov had seven kills, four aces and 47 assists.

The Warriors hit a blistering .540 through the first two sets with 32 kills against five errors in 50 attempts. Long Beach surged away early in the third set and again took an early lead in the fourth, but the Warriors caught and passed them to close it out.

In the MPSF Tournament …

Pepperdine 3, USC 1: Fourth-seeded Pepperdine won the tournament title for a seventh time with a 26-24, 25-20, 21-25, 25-21 victory over second-seeded USC on Saturday night at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, securing an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament field.

After trading blows through the first three sets, Pepperdine (20-9) pulled away late in the fourth, capped by a block from Cole Hartke and William Whidden with a USC attack error to follow for the title.

Ryan Barnett paced the Waves with 23 kills while hitting .333 and was named the tournament MVP, while teammates Jacob Reilly and Cole Hartke were named to the all-tournament team.

Ilay Haver had 11 kills and 18 digs, while Hartke had eight kills, four blocks and three aces. Reilly added 12 digs, and setter Gabriel Dyer had 44 assists and two aces.

All-tournament selection Dillon Klein had 16 kills, five blocks, eight digs and a pair of aces to pace USC (21-7). Parker Tomkinson had six kills, seven blocks and hit .545, also earning all-tournament honors. Jack Deuchar added eight kills, while Christian Connell had five kills and two blocks off the bench. Setter Caleb Blanchette had 42 assists.

The Trojans out-hit the Waves .231 to .193 and had more blocks (15.5-8.5), but Pepperdine won the service game with eight aces to USC’s two.

Orange County Register

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Long Beach State men’s volleyball falls to Hawaii in Big West tourney final

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