In an emotionally charged match in which the taunting did not stop after aloha ball, the University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team pounded out a 30-26, 30-28, 30-28 victory over Long Beach State tonight in the opening round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs.

"See ya, suckers!" UH middle blocker Dejan Miladinovic yelled as the 49ers sulked off the court. "Look at the score."

"They tried to bully us," UH libero Vernon Podlewski said. "But we got our lunch money back."

Long Beach State outside hitter Jeff Wootton admitted the trash-talking got out of hand. "It was unfortunate," he said.

The Warriors will meet UC Santa Barbara, a surprise winner over UCLA in five games, in the semifinals at Pepperdine. Pepperdine will play Brigham Young in the other semifinal Thursday.

If UH wins, it should lock up at least an at-large berth in the NCAA final four. "You would think," UH coach Mike Wilton said.

For now, the Warriors were basking in their sweep, an outcome they believe pays off an IOU from a home loss to the 49ers in February.

The Warriors reverted to an old strategy by moving Eyal Zimet to opposite, where he takes five turns on the right side, and kept Costas Theocharidis and Tony Ching on left side, where they are most comfortable.

While Theocharidis pounded out a match-high 16 kills, Zimet provided stability, contributing 12 kills (against one error) and providing steady passes to setter Kimo Tuyay and then Daniel Rasay. Tuyay was lifted in the third game after repeatedly misdiagnosing the 49ers' attack. The move did not hurt, as Rasay was able to steer the UH offense.