Long Beach State men’s volleyball sweeps to Big West title

LONG BEACH – Long Beach State was favored to win the first-ever Big West Conference men’s volleyball tournament, but no one expected the title game to go down the way it did Saturday night at the Walter Pyramid.

A week after playing two tough five-match sets against Hawaii across the Pacific Ocean and losing their first of the season in the process, the 49ers drubbed the Rainbow Warriors to claim the title, sweeping them 25-23, 25-14 and 25-19.

The 49ers improve to 26-1 on the season, will retain their No. 1 ranking and will undoubtedly be the top seed for the NCAA Tournament at UCLA May 3-5. Hawaii (19-8) presumably is the favorite for an at-large berth in the tourney, although being swept may give the NCAA selection committee a little pause.

“We played ten sets against them last weekend and were able to pick up on some of their tendencies,’’ head coach Alan Knipe said. Not some. It seemed they had them all.

The 49ers shut down the Hawaii attack after the first set, the Warriors converting just 18 of 47 kill attempts while making 11 errors. They had ten service aces, and returned Hawaii’s serve that over whelmed UC Irvine in the semifinals. Hawaii had just two aces and six service errors in the final two sets.

Josh Tuinaga, the 49ers setter who was named the tournament MVP, had 32 assists and flawlessly distributed the ball, TJ DeFalco and Kyle Ensing having eight kills each, Bjarne Huus seven, Simon Anderson six and Nick Amado four. The 49ers had 10 ½ blocks to four for Hawaii, and those four came in the first set.

“From our experience last week, we knew they’d swing from the hip on all their serves, so we came in with the same mentality,’’ DeFalco, the junior who was the NCAA most outstanding player last season. “We learned a lot from the loss. We wanted to emphasize being good on our serves and passing.’’

“Our serves had an impact on Hawaii’s offense,’’ Knipe said. “When we serve deep, it’s hard for their setter to get in position at the net. It’s hard to set when you’re stuck at the 10-meter line.’’

Tuinaga’s ability to distribute the ball was summarized easily in the second set when he set up five different teammates for a kill in the early 10-4 run. He then had back-to-back aces when it came time to serve.

“It’s about having confidence in my boys,’’ Tuinaga, who was an all-CIF teammate of DeFalco at Huntington Beach High. “They radiate confidence that they’ll be ready when I can set them.’’

“It’s great when he can just get him the ball and let him flow, knowing that he’s going to set any of us if we’re where we belong,’’ DeFalco said.

“I’m proud that Josh was the MVP,’’ Knipe said. “He does so many things for us. He makes us go.’’

Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said the match came down to Tuinaga’s distribution in the last two sets.

“Once they get a lead, Josh can do what he wants and get creative,” he said. “Long Beach is the kind of team that if they get a lead they can steam roll you. Everyone was playing aggressive.’’

Rada Parapunov had 10 kills for Hawaii but also eight hitting errors.  Stijn van Tilburg had six kills but also have five of Hawaii’s ten receiving errors.

Wade said his team’s pregame warmup concerned him.

“They looked like they had heavy legs. With the travel and fatigue and a tough semifinal, we didn’t seem to have the same bounce. Maybe if a few things go our way in the first set, it’s a different match.’’

After outlasting Hawaii in a competitive first set, Long Beach, went on a five-point run in the second to open a 10-4 lead, and followed a few moments later with a 7-1 stretch that gave them a double-digit lead at 19-8. Hawaii never got close thereafter.

The 49ers opened the third set with a blistering bomb and block run to start the match 7-0 – a thundering kill by Ensing, a dunk by DeFalco, an ace by Tuinaga, and three blocks with Amado in on all three, twice with Ensing and once with DeFalco.

They continued to push it up – 9-1, 11-2 and 15-5. They led by 11 again before Hawaii gathered itself and made a modest 7-2 run to close within six but that was as far as they went.

“It was a huge honor to get to host the first tournament, and extra special to win it,’’ Knipe said. “These guys put in a lot of effort in this experience, and it’s all humbling.”

BYU, Ohio State, King College and Harvard earned automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments. The two at-large teams and the seeding for the tourney will  be announced Sunday.