The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2024-25 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
After splitting games earlier in the season, a third matchup between Long Beach State and Hawaii has felt inevitable. Tonight, the two teams square off once again at the Stan Sheriff Center in Hawaii at 10:00 pm pst—this time for the Big West Championship.
The winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, although either team should have already all but clinched an at-large bid even with a loss, given that both have two of the top resumes in the country.
In back-to-back matches against Hawaii two weeks ago, Long Beach State earned a four-set win before falling in five sets the following night. Those matches marked the first back-to-back sellouts at the Stan Sheriff Center since 1998, where the two teams will meet again tonight for the rematch.
“We can’t forget that atmosphere with the people in the Stan Sheriff [Center]. It was very chirpy and aggressive and there was a lot of tension during our two games against Hawaii,” said LSBU setter Moni Nikolov before finding out their opponent. “Whoever wins we’re ready to take on and give it our best.”
That of course ended up being Hawaii, who finds itself in the championship match after defeating UC Irvine last night in four sets. Adrien Roure had 18 kills in that match and Tread Rosenthal tallied 40 assists. Hawaii also had three different players with a pair of aces.
Long Beach State’s path to the championship came just prior to Hawaii’s match when the Beach took down UC San Diego via sweep. Alex Kandev had 14 kills while hitting .600 and fellow Bulgarian Nikolov had 45 assists with four aces.
The official NCAA Men’s Volleyball Tournament bracket is scheduled to be announced on Sunday, and the tournament will take place from May 8 to May 12 at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio.
