Jason Salmeri and Mason Kuo came off the bench in Game 3 to help lift the No. 4 Rainbows over the seventh-ranked 49ers, 15-4, 11-15, 16-14, 15-4. Hawaii, 4-1 overall, remained unbeaten in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play at 3-0. Long Beach State fell to 4-1 and 0-1.
Hawaii travels to No. 8 Pepperdine tomorrow, then finishes its trip at No. 5 Brigham Young Saturday.
"I'm real concerned about our lethargy," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said after last night's match. "After we won Game 1 easily, we became extremely lethargic.
"Fortunately, we were able to put in Salmeri and Kuo, who brought some clarity to our thought process."
Long Beach State was thinking victory after jumping out to an 11-7 lead in Game 3. Kuo, coming in for Naveh Milo, put down his first kill to spark a 6-0 Rainbow run that put Hawaii ahead, 13-11.
The 49ers answered back with three straight points, serving for the game twice at 14-13. Kuo was in on three consecutive blocks for Hawaii points that allowed the Rainbows to regain control of the match.
Twenty-eight minutes later, Kuo served for the match. Hawaii came up with its 16th block by stuffing Geoff Cryst.
Jason Ring led the Rainbows with 32 kills, hitting .407, with seven blocks and two aces. Aaron Wilton struggled until Game 4, finishing with 16 kills; Rick Tune added 15 kills and was in on 10 blocks, including three solos.
Gaby Amar had 26 kills for the 49ers, who hit .183 on the night and just .087 in Game 4.
"We won't see Long Beach for another month (Feb. 26) and they're going to be better the next time," Wilton said. "I'm happy that we figured out a way to get it done after it got kind of ugly.
"I was concerned after Game 1. I started looking for some button to push. The timeouts weren't working too good. There was no huge crowd tonight (1,032) and our players have got to learn that, on the road, you have to supply your own spark. Mason and Jason were the men of the evening."
Hawaii def. Long Beach State, 15-4, 11-15, 16-14, 15-4
Rainbows (4-1 overall, 3-0 MPSF)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Wilton 4 16 11 35 .143 0 1 8 Milo 3 8 5 17 .179 0 0 7 Vaughan 4 2 1 5 .200 0 4 5 Leoni 3 4 2 8 .250 0 4 4 Ring 4 32 8 59 .407 1 6 7 Tune 4 15 4 29 .379 3 7 1 Stolfus 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Lee 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Kuo 2 3 1 7 .286 0 3 6 Salmeri 3 2 1 5 .200 0 1 2 Totals 4 82 33 165 .297 4 26 40
49ers (4-1 overall, 0-1 MPSF)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Pabarcus 4 10 8 23 .087 0 2 9 Seiffert 4 5 3 11 .182 0 3 4 Walmer 4 15 9 31 .194 1 4 5 Cryst 4 17 16 47 .021 1 3 5 Amar 4 26 8 52 .346 0 5 5 Ratledge 4 4 1 10 .300 1 0 1 Mariano 4 2 1 6 .167 0 2 6 Totals 0 79 46 180 .183 3 19 35Key: g-games. k-kills. e-hitting errors. at-attempts. pct.-hitting percentage. bs-block solos. ba-block assists. d-digs.
Aces-UH (2): Ring 2. LBS (2): Walmer 1, Amar 1. Assists-UH (80): Vaughan 76, Wilton 2, Leoni 1, Kuo 1. LBS (75): Seiffert 70, Cryst 3, Walmer 2.
Yellow cards: Leoni, LBS coach Ratelle. A-1,032. T-2:18. Officials: Ken Taylor, Bob Oshita.