HONOLULU – The University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team dropped its Big West opener in straight sets to rival Long Beach State, Friday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-20, 29-27, 25-22.
The Rainbow Warriors (17-2, 0-1 BWC) suffered their first 3-0 loss at home since 2020 and saw their 15-match conference home win streak snapped. In addition, UH’s five-match home win streak over the Beach came to an end.
The Beach (12-2, 3-0) played as efficient as any team to play in SimpliFi Arena this season hitting .484 as a team with only seven attack errors in 93 attempts. Meanwhile, UH hit .303 and had a season-low 3.5 team blocks.
Dimitrios Mouchlias led Hawai’i with 15 kills, hitting .312 while Chaz Galloway added 10 kills, hitting. 381 with seven digs and two blocks. Guilherme Voss was a perfect 7-for-7 in kill attempts. Spyros Chakas was held to seven kills, hitting -.045.
Sotiris Siapanis had a match-high 19 kills, hitting .531 for the Beach while Spencer Olivier added 13 kills at a .500 clip. Middles Simon Torwie and Shane Holdaway combined for 15 kills in 20 errorless attempts.
UH, which had not lost at home in 29 straight matches prior to last weekend, have now lost two of its last three. Hawai’i’s last conference home loss occurred in 2018 also to Long Beach State.
UH took its first lead in Set 1 at 12-11 after a kill by Mouchlias. The Beach regained the lead and surged ahead 19-16 with a 4-1 run and then scored three unanswered for a 23-19 lead. A UH service error gave the Beach the game.
The Warriors trailed for the first half of Set 2 until a kill and ace by Chakas on consecutive plays tied the score at 16. UH took a 21-19 lead after back-to-back kills by Galloway and Chakas before the Beach tied it at 22. The teams then traded side-outs with the Beach erasing four set points before stealing the win with an ace by Holdaway.
Long Beach jumped out to a 15-9 lead in Set 3. The Warriors would not go away using a 6-1 run to pull within one, then tying it at 18 after an attack error by Siapanis. The Beach quickly answered with three straight points which was enough to put away the match. Olivier’s 13th and final kill completed the sweep.
The teams will play again Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
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