No. 2 Long Beach State outlasts No. 4 Hawaii in Big West men’s volleyball showdown

Long Beach State freshman Alex Nikolov put away 22 kills and Spencer Olivier added 20, including match point, and the second-ranked Beach held off the fourth-ranked University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team in four tight sets today in Long Beach, Calif.

UH outside hitter Chaz Galloway led the Rainbow Warriors with 13 kills, but the Beach edged ahead late in the final three sets in a 22-25, 25-23, 26-24, 27-25 win at the Walter Pyramid to move ahead in the Big West race.

The Rainbow Warriors (18-4, 3-2 Big West) and Beach (15-3, 4-1) close their series on Saturday in a match televised on ESPNU.

UH middle blocker Guilherme Voss finished with nine kills in 12 attempts with three blocks and setter Jakob Thelle posted a double-double with 35 assists and 11 digs. UH libero Brett Sheward added a career-high 15 digs.

LBSU fired seven aces to one for Hawaii and prevailed despite 26 service errors and won its eighth straight home match in the series with the Warriors.

UH closed the opening set with a 6-2 surge with Galloway contributing two of his six kills in the set and Spyros Chakas going off the block on set point.

UH led 14-10 midway through the second set and the Beach rallied to catch the Warriors at 19-19. UH edged ahead at 23-22 when Galloway powered a shot through the block. Simon Torwie tied it and Nikolov scored out of the back row to give the Beach set point. After UH timeout, Nikolov ended the set with his second ace to tie the match at a set apiece.

UH benefited from eight Beach service errors in the third set and led 21-19 after a block by Voss and Dimitrios Mouchlias. Back-to-back aces by LBSU’s Nathan Harlan off the bench highlighted a 5-1 run that gave the Beach set point at 24-22. UH wiped out two set points on Galloway kills, but a service error and a block gave Beach the set and the lead in the match.

UH went on a 6-1 run to take a 19-16 lead in the fourth set, but LBSU answered with a 5-1 surge to reclaim the lead. UH earned a set point at 24-23 and Olivier went off the block and tapped down an overpass to give the Beach match point. A service error extended the set and Nikolov scored on a back-row attack to give the Beach its second match point. LBSU closed out the match when Olivier again put down an overpass of Clarke Godbold’s serve.