The No. 5-ranked Long Beach State men's volleyball team kicked off a two-game homestand against No. 10 Hawai'i with a disappointing loss in four sets at the Walter Pyramid on Friday night – 25-21, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23.
The victory extended the Warriors' winning streak to five matches, while The Beach has now lost three of its last four contests at home.
The 49ers (10-9, 8-6 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) finished with a dismal .218 hitting percentage en route to the loss, while Hawai'i hit .233.
"We couldn't kill the middle," interim head coach Andy Read said. "We have good middles, but their middles were blocking better than we were attacking."
Junior Jim Baughman paced the ‘Niners with 16 kills, while freshman outside hitter Taylor Crabb added 15 kills and eight digs. Junior Brad Hemmerling also chipped in with 13 kills.
"I'd been really excited for this week coming up," Crabb said.
Meanwhile, outside hitter Jonas Umlauft led the way for Hawai'i (11-9, 9-6 MPSF) with a match-high 22 kills on a .236 hitting percentage.
Warriors freshman middle blocker Shane Welch had only 1 kill all match, but posted a stunning 10 blocks to help them to another double digit blocking performance as they finished with 12.5.
The Warriors hammered down 18 blocks in their last match against No. 15 Pacific and didn't show any signs of stopping in the first set of Friday's match.
Meanwhile, the second set started just as close as the first with neither team holding a lead of more than two for most of the match.
That is until Hawai'i would take an 14-11 advantage in the middle of the set.
LBSU would not go down without a fight, though, answering the Warriors' run with a 3-0 spurt of its own.
The 49ers proved to be resilient behind a kill from Crabb to close out the frame, 25-21.
The third set saw another back-and-forth battle between the two teams.
It wouldn't be until the middle of the third set that Hawai'i was finally able to separate themselves from LBSU after going up 19-15.
However, The Beach responded with a 7-1 run behind Ian Satterfield's serves gave the 49ers their first lead of the third set, 22-20.
The Warriors were not to be outdone, though, as they put together a clutch performance at the end of the third set to pull out a 25-23 victory.
The 49ers defense came out to play in the fourth set as they began the frame with 3 blocks.
LBSU held a two-point lead until the middle of the frame when Hawai'i answered with a 4-0 burst to take a two-point edge of its own.
Trailing 22-20, the ‘Niners then evened up the set after Satterfield's serves sparked another late run.
It wouldn't be enough, though, as the Warriors hung on to take the final two points of the set to seal the match.
LBSU will return to action Friday for a rematch against Hawai'i at the Walter Pyramid. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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