Saturday, April 2, 2022 | By Tiff Wells
A career night from libero Brett Sheward (15 digs) and a double-double performance from setter Jakob Thelle (35 assists, 11 digs) wasn’t enough as No. 4 Hawai`i dropped Friday’s match at No. 2 Long Beach in 4 sets (25-22, 23-25, 24-26, 25-27). It’s now the 8th-straight loss for UH (18-4, 3-2) in Long Beach (15-3, 4-1) dating back to the 2016 season. The same two teams play again on Saturday, 7:30pm PT, 4:30pm HT on ESPNU. It’s a historic night for Men’s Collegiate Volleyball as it will be the first regular season men’s volleyball match on an ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU channel.
Tied at 21 in the first set, UH closed on a 4-1 run to win it 25-22. UH had 19 kills and held LBSU’s Alex Nikolov to just 3.
LBSU ended the second set on a 3-1 run with Alex Nikolov’s ace to tie the match at 1.
In the third set, UH held a 21-19 lead. Again, the Bows couldn’t close as The Beach won the set 26-24 to take a 2-1 match lead.
A UH overpass, followed by a Long Beach kill ended the match as Long Beach State won the match 3 sets to 1.
UH held their own in the dig department (47-42), but lost every other statistical category. Serving was an issue for Long Beach State as they had 26 service errors. UH was also aced eight times.
After a five kill on 23 attack performance, starting opposite Dimitrios Mouchilas was pulled after the third set. Chaz Galloway led UH offensively, recording 13 kills.
The pin-hitting trio of Alex Nikolov (match-high 23 kills), Spencer Olivier (21 kills) and Clarke Godbold (13 kills) combined for 57 of the 63 LBSU kills.
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