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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, January 12, 2008

Long Beach completes two-match sweep of UH

Photo galleryPhoto gallery: Hawaii vs. Long Beach State men's volleyball

By Kalani Takase
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Hawai'i's Nejc Zemljak watched as teammate Sean Carney stretches for, but couldn't save the ball which resulted in a Long Beach State point during last night's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at the Stan Sheriff Center.

REBECCA BREYER | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Paul Lotman and Dean Bittner had 26 kills apiece and No. 6 Long Beach State completed a two-game sweep of No. 12 Hawai'i with a 30-32, 30-20, 32-30, 30-26 win last night.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 1,474 watched as LBSU improved to 4-0, 2-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. UH dropped its third straight match and fell to 1-4, 0-2.

Despite the loss, the Warriors did improve upon a .150 hitting percentage from Thursday's loss. UH hit .213 last night, but LBSU countered with a .356 percentage.

"It's definitely a big improvement over (Thursday) night," said UH assistant coach Mason Kuo. Head coach Mike Wilton, who left the arena soon after the match was completed, hurried to the airport for a late flight to California.

Hawai'i continued to deal with the flu bug. Junior outside hitter Jim Clar, who is averaging a team-high 4.23 kills per game, missed his second consecutive match, but sophomore middle blocker Matt Rawson returned to the starting lineup after missing Thursday's match.

In Clar's absence, freshman Nejc Zemljak started at outside hitter. Zemljak, who is the backup to setter Sean Carney, entered the match with just seven kills this season. Zemljak and Jake Schkud led the Warriors with 14 kills and Brock Hutchins added 12.

The Warriors got off to a slow start, falling behind 4-1 in game one after Jake Schkud hit long, but used a 9-1 run to take 10-5 lead.

UH failed to put away two game points, but following a Lotman kill to tie it at 30, Schkud went off the block and Sean Carney and Keali'i Frank combined on a roof of Lotman to end Game 1.

UH hit .455 in the first game, committing just three errors.

In contrast, the Warriors hit just .171 in Game 2, committing seven errors. The Beach turned it around, hitting .417 with just two errors in tying it at a game apiece.

UH led early in Game 3, but a 4-0 run put the Beach ahead 15-13.

UH regained the lead at 28-27 following a 9-2 run, but LBSU scored two straight points to go ahead 29-27. Schkud answered with back-to-back kills to make it 30-29 Hawai'i. However, the Beach got a kill from Bittner and Lotman pushed a ball off the Hawai'i block to give LBSU match point at 31-30.

Alexander and Adam Schlesinger roofed Schkud to put LBSU ahead two games to one.

Hawai'i led game four 16-13 following a Lotman service error, but LBSU surged back with a 5-1 run that was capped by consecutive kills by Bittner to take an 18-17 lead. Hawai'i forced a tie at 19, but could not overcome a .034 hitting percentage in the game and a bad set from setter Sean Carney to Rawson on match point gave LBSU the win.

Reach Kalani Takase at ktakase@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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