The stakes couldn’t have been higher at the Walter Pyramid last Saturday when Long Beach State and Hawaii squared off for the national championship.

For 49ers sophomore Ethan Siegfried, additional circumstances made the matchup even more unique. The Punahou alumnus was on his home floor facing his hometown team.

Long Beach State pulled through with a 23-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23 victory to win its second consecutive national title. While Siegfried admits the familiarity with both sides was on his mind, he also says he was able to flush it out for the most part.

“Before and after it was a little mixed, just because of the fact that you’re playing against your home team,” he said. “As long as I’m on my side of the net, I’m gonna compete as hard as I can with all respect to the other side every single time.

“(Saturday) was a funky feeling but not too much to handle. It’s always fun since you know the guys over there. I’ve known them for a few years now and it’s just fun to compete against them since they’re all friends.”

Known as mostly a serving specialist his freshman season, Siegfried still saw time on the court, playing in all five sets of the 49ers’ national championship victory over UCLA. After breaking into the starting lineup as the team’s second outside hitter late this season, he finished his sophomore campaign with 79 kills, 18 service aces, 11 assists, 63 digs and 21 blocks.

“It’s pretty wild, to be honest. Going into college, I wasn’t really, let’s say, a top-level recruit, so I kind of snuck onto the team, I guess kind of under the radar,” he said. “Luckily (LBSU coach) Alan Knipe accepted me on the team and I just came in last year with open ears, ready to learn and soak up any knowledge that I could.

“Luckily we’ve had such great players on our team, and having Alan and all the seniors lead and help and teach us younger guys, it’s been quite an experience and I couldn’t trade it for anything. It’s been such a knowledgeable two years and I’m just excited for the next one and see what more I can learn.”

Siegfried registered six kills, four blocks, five digs and an ace against Hawaii during Saturday’s NCAA final. His career highs in kills (16), assists (four), digs (10) and blocks (six) have all come in matches against the Rainbow Warriors this season.

The Aina Haina native has returned home to play Hawaii at the Stan Sheriff Center in both seasons, going 1-2 against the Rainbow Warriors in Hawaii in that span.

“Oh yeah, I always enjoy coming home. Playing at the Walter Pyramid is really fun. … But everyone is gonna say the Stan Sheriff Center is a whole other beast,” he said. “It was a little tough to be that rival on the court and have all that energy against you, but being back there to play was just so exciting. So much energy pumping through my veins, so much adrenaline, I was just having so much fun. It’s just a crazy experience.”

Siegfried was No. 5 on the Star-Advertiser’s Fab 15 his senior year in 2017, and attributes playing at Punahou with college-caliber players in Will Stanley (BYU), Micah Ma’a (UCLA) and Ryan Wilcox (UC Santa Barbara), among others, as key to his development. He also credits coach Rick Tune for the advanced preparation.

“For me personally, it was the video scouting reports. I know some other high school teams didn’t necessarily do that, but Coach Tune wanted to make that a focus for us to be able to adapt to the next level. I’d say that was big because our team here likes to watch a lot of video. We’re not short of it, ever,” Siegfried said with a chuckle.

This summer, Siegfried will compete for the U.S. in the World University Games on July 3-14 in Napoli, Italy. He was one of 12 selected to the team after accepting his roster invite on short notice. It will be Siegfried’s first experience playing international volleyball.

On top of competing for Punahou in kayaking and paddling, Siegfried played three years of varsity volleyball for the Buffanblu. Add his three straight HHSAA titles to his two consecutive college titles, and Siegfried has taken home gold five years in a row.

Sounds like an ideal harbinger for the red, white and blue.

“I’m very excited for the opportunity because a lot of great players are on that team and it’ll be really interesting, too, to create that kind of culture with those players, and to just have fun overseas,” he said. “I think it’s just one game at a time. That’s all we can really do. One game, one set, one point at a time. Just gonna go with the flow.”

AROUND THE NATION

BASEBALL

>> Cole Cabrera, Punahou ‘17: The Cal Poly sophomore went 2-for-9 in a weekend series against Hawaii. The Mustangs (22-22, 12-3 Big West) are tied with UC Santa Barbara for the conference lead.

>> Wyatt Young, Mid-Pacific ‘18: The Pepperdine freshman hit safely in all four games he played in last week. He went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run in an 8-5 loss to UCLA on April 30. Then in a weekend series at San Francisco, he went 6-for-14 with three runs. The Waves (20-20, 11-10 West Coast Conference) dropped two of three games to the Dons. Young has started all 40 games at second base, hitting .305 and committing just four errors.

>> Codie Paiva, Kamehameha ‘15: The Loyola Marymount senior improved to 6-4 in a 5-1 win over BYU on May 2, striking out seven and walking two while spacing seven hits in 52/3 innings against the Cougars. The Lions (27-20, 14-10 WCC) are tied for third with San Francisco in the conference standings and are in position to clinch a spot in the WCC’s four-team tournament May 23-25.

>> Jacob Maekawa, Mid-Pacific ‘16: The San Diego State junior went 3-for-11 with four runs and an RBI in a three-game sweep over San Jose State. The Aztecs (29-19, 14-9 Mountain West) are second in the conference behind Fresno State.

>> Noah Sills, Mid-Pacific ‘15: The Lamar senior tossed eight innings in a no-decision against Southeastern Louisiana on May 3, allowing five hits and three runs while walking two and striking out five in a 4-3 loss for the Cardinals (16-31, 7-19 Southland Conference).

>> Trayson Kubo, Leilehua ‘15: The Stephen F. Austin senior dropped to 2-2 after allowing four earned runs in six innings with two walks and eight strikeouts in a 5-1 loss to McNeese State on May 5.

>> Oakland Scanlan, Waipahu ‘15: The Wisconsin-Milwaukee senior went 3-for-8 in a weekend series against Illinois-Chicago. The Panthers (27-17, 14-9 Horizon League) dropped two of three to the Flames.

>> Kai Terada-Herzer, Punahou ‘17: The Amherst (Mass.) sophomore went 5-for-12 in a weekend series against Middlebury on May 3-4. Terada-Herzer closed the regular season with a .324 batting average for the Mammoths (16-14-1).

>> Haloa Dudoit, Baldwin ‘16: The Concordia-Irvine junior went 5-for-15 in a four-game weekend series split against Biola on April 26-27, the most recent string of games for the Eagles (19-24, 14-14 PacWest). Dudoit has started all 43 games, hitting .343.

>> Matthew Inaba, ‘Iolani ‘18: The Grinnell (Iowa) freshman went 8-for-19 with four RBIs and three runs in a four-game weekend series against Monmouth (Ill.) that the Pioneers (14-20) split to end their season. Inaba finished his freshman campaign with a .281 average over 30 games played.

>> Riley Guieb, Punahou ‘17: The Grinnell sophomore went 8-for-16 in a weekend series against Monmouth and finished his season hitting .318 in 29 games.

>> Jacob Gribbin, Saint Louis ‘14: The Lewis-Clark State senior went 4-for-12 with two home runs, seven RBIs and six runs in a weekend series against Oregon Tech from April 26 to 28 for the Warriors (34-13-1), who took three of four in the series.

>> Micah Jio, Maui ‘17: The Oregon Tech sophomore went 5-for-18 in a weekend series against Lewis-Clark State with seven runs, six RBIs and two home runs. The 2017 Star-Advertiser position player of the year also earned NAIA-West honors with a conference leading .361 batting average, 75 hits and 116 bases for the Owls (13-38).

>> Kai Fong, ‘Iolani ‘15: The Oregon Tech senior went 6-for-15 in a weekend series against Lewis-Clark State with five runs and three RBIs. Fong finished his final collegiate season with a .312 batting average.

>> Micah McNicoll, Kamehameha ‘16: The Saint Martin’s junior went 4-for-12 with a run, a double and an RBI in a weekend series against Western Oregon on May 3-4. The Saints (19-30, 15-25 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) were swept in the four-game series but have a chance to qualify for postseason play if they win the double-elimination GNAC tournament, starting with today’s tilt against Montana State Billings.

>> Blayze Arcano, Campbell ‘16: The Western Oregon junior went 8-for-14 with nine RBIs, three doubles and three runs in a weekend series against Saint Martin’s, with two hits in each game of the sweep. The Wolves (29-11, 26-11 GNAC) open the conference tournament today against Northwest Nazarene.

>> Casey Isa, Moanalua ‘14: The Whitworth senior went 5-for-12 with a double, a triple, five RBIs and one run over the course of games against Puget Sound, Pacific Lutheran and Whitman from May 4 to 5. The Pirates (27-15) will find out if they made the NCAA Division III on Monday.

>> Kawai Takemura, Kamehameha ‘17: The William Jessup (Calif.) sophomore went 8-for-22 in the Golden State Athletic Conference tournament April 30-May 2 in Irvine, Calif. Takemura led off all five games for the Warriors, scoring four runs with two home runs and three RBIs. The Warriors (36-11) lost the championship game 8-3 to Hope International and will have to wait until Thursday to see if they earned an at-large bid to the NAIA tournament.

>> Cal Koga, Kauai ‘15: The William Jessup senior went 5-for-20 with three RBIs, a run and a double in the GSAC tournament while catching all five games for the Warriors.

>> Noah Shackles, Mid-Pacific ‘15: The William Jessup senior went 7-for-22 with four RBIs, four runs and two doubles during the GSAC tournament.

WOMEN’S GOLF

>> Malia Nam, Kaiser ‘18: The Southern California freshman is tied for ninth with a 1-under 143 through round two of three at the Cle Elum (Wash.) Regional. The Trojans are in position to advance to the national championships set for May 17-22 at the Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark., after taking a 12-stroke team lead at 10-under 566. The top six teams from the Cle Elum, Norman, East Lansing and Auburn regionals advance to make up the final 24 teams.

>> Allisen Corpuz, Punahou ‘16: The Southern California junior is tied for 40th at 6-over 150 through two rounds at the Cle Elum regional.

>> Mari Nishiura, Mililani ‘16: The Oregon State junior is tied for 34th with a 5-over 149 at the Cle Elum regional. The Beavers are in eighth place at 13-over 589.

>> Mariel Galdiano, Punahou ‘16: The UCLA junior is tied for 63rd at 10-over 154 at the East Lansing (Mich.) regional. As a team, the Bruins are in third at 5-over 581.

SOFTBALL

>> Jocelyn Alo, Campbell ‘17: The Oklahoma sophomore went 4-for-9 in a weekend series against No. 12/13 Oklahoma State. The No. 1 Sooners swept the Cowgirls to improve to 48-2 and finish 18-0 in Big 12 play. The Sooners are riding a 43-game winning streak heading into Friday’s Big 12 tournament opener against Texas Tech. In 46 games played this season, Alo is hitting .404 with 14 home runs.

>> Kamalani Dung, Kamehameha ‘15: The California senior tossed a complete game in an 8-3 victory at Arizona State on Saturday, striking out six with four walks and four hits. The Bears (27-26, 5-11 Pac-12) await their postseason fate on Saturday’s selection show. Dung finished the regular season 13-10 with a 2.32 ERA, with 157 strikeouts in 157 innings pitched.

>> Cydney Curran, Campbell ‘16: The Cal State Bakersfield junior went 2-for-7 in a weekend series against New Mexico State. Curran has a team-high .345 batting average for the Roadrunners (14-30, 3-14 WAC), who open the WAC tournament today against Grand Canyon.

>> Chris Hipa, Kamehameha ‘15: The Cal State Bakersfield senior went 2-for-7 with three runs, an RBI and a home run against New Mexico State, upping her team-high total of home runs to six. Nobody else on the Roadrunners has more than one home run this year.

MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

>> Andrei Iosivas, Punahou ‘18: The Princeton freshman finished his first collegiate heptathlon with 6,825 points to place third at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships on Sunday. Iosivas was in fourth place after the first day and finished second in the 110-meter hurdles (15.00 seconds), third in the pole vault (4.47) and javelin (47.18) and fifth in the discus (34.89) and 1,500 (5:22.28).

>> Daniel Pietsch, Seabury Hall ‘14: The Georgia Tech senior helped the Yellow Jackets break the school record in the 4×100 relay with a first-place finishing time of 40.17 seconds at the Torrin Lawrence Invite on April 27. Pietsch, who also finished second in the 400 (47.07), will compete in the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships starting Thursday.

>> Lucas Milne, Punahou ‘18: The Seattle University freshman finished third in the 400 hurdles with a time of 58.03 seconds at the Ken Shannon Invitational on Saturday.

>> Jacques Hebert, Punahou ‘14: The Seattle University senior finished fifth in the 1,500 with a time of 3:51.55 at the Ken Shannon Invitational.

WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

>> Emma Taylor, Hawaii Prep ‘16: The Boston College junior finished fourth in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:05.51 at the Skyhawk Invitational on April 28. Taylor will compete at the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships beginning Thursday.

>> Phoebe Kirk, Sacred Hearts ‘16: The Navy junior finished 11th in the 800 with a time of 2:14.09 at the Patriot League Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday.

WOMEN’S WATER POLO

>> Emalia Eichelberger, Punahou ‘16: The Stanford sophomore goalkeeper made six saves in an 11-9 win over California in the MPSF semifinals on April 27 and had 15 saves in a 9-8 overtime loss to Southern California in the MPSF championship on April 28. Eichelberger is averaging 9.12 saves per game for the Cardinal, who are the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Championships, which began Tuesday.

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Compiled Christian Shimabuku. To submit an athlete for publication, email bhull@staradvertiser.com.