FAIRFAX, Va. >> Over two weekends in Manoa, all signs pointed to Virginia.
When Hawaii hosted UCLA and Penn State in the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational in early March, then opened Big West play against Long Beach State a week later, there was a sense of inevitability that those four teams would eventually reconvene at EagleBank Arena.
Two months later, the quartet have indeed found their way to Fairfax, and the experiences of those evenings in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center serve as preparation and prelude to today’s semifinals in the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship.
“It was a great tournament,” UCLA coach John Speraw said of playing in the Outrigger. “You set up those schedules a year in advance you don’t really know exactly how it’s all going to shake out, and for those teams to all be there in one weekend was exciting and great for the fans, and the environment, of course, was fantastic.
“The pressure that you’re under when you play UH in Hawaii with a crowd like that where it’s 1 versus 2 is very, obviously, simulative of what you might have here.”
The NCAA semifinalists have spent the entire season in the top four of the AVCA coaches poll, with two-time defending champion UH atop the ranking for 16 of 17 weeks.
Each of the final four participants have faced each other at varying points in the season, so familiarity and quests for redemption will be themes in both of today’s matches.
“We got to play on the court, we got to see them multiple times — any time you can do something like that to raise your level of familiarity is an advantage,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “And I’m sure they feel the same way.”
In the opener, top-seeded UCLA will look to avenge last year’s loss to Long Beach State in the NCAA semifinals in Pauley Pavilion. On the other side of the net, the Beach are looking to reverse the outcomes of two losses to the Bruins in February.
“(In the second match) We played a little more the way we wanted to play and the brand of volleyball we have been striving to play the entire season,” LBSU libero Mason Briggs said. “And we’ve been able to grow and hopefully we’ll be able to squeeze out a few more points down the stretch.”
While second-seeded Hawaii enters the NCAA tournament as the two-time defending national champion, the Rainbow Warriors will face a Penn State team responsible for snapping their 29-match home winning streak when the Nittany Lions pulled out a four-set victory on March 10 on the second night of the Outrigger.
Penn State, which was awarded the Outrigger title in a three-team tiebreaker, is back in the final four a year after a stunning loss in its conference tournament locked it out of the NCAA tournament.
“I think with the Outrigger and structure of it, the day-to-day competition we faced there, that was great prep for this, as was the First Point Challenge in Texas (with Pepperdine and Stanford),” Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said.
“This team has been through probably the toughest schedule of any of the teams I’ve coached have been through. They seem to have embraced the competition that’s been thrown at them.”
Today’s rematch is reminiscent of the scenario UH faced in last year’s final four, when the Warriors rallied past a Ball State team that had knocked them off earlier in the season. This time they’ll get another chance to face Penn State a bit less than two months after posting their lowest hitting percentage of the season at .250 while the Nittany Lions hit .302 with seven aces in their 21-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-23 victory.
“It’s pretty similar,” UH libero Brett Sheward said in recalling last year’s set-up. “But we’re just focused on the now and trying to stay in the moment … it doesn’t really matter what’s happened before.”
The Warriors bounced back to defeat UCLA the next night and traded sweeps in their Big West series with Long Beach State the following weekend. They carry an 11-match winning streak into today’s match and have had two weeks to recharge after claiming their second straight Big West Tournament title.
Following is a look at today’s matchups, which will be streamed on ncaa.com. The winners meet for the national championship on Saturday at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.
NATIONAL COLLEGIATE MEN’S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS
At EagleBank Arena, Fairfax, Va.
UCLA (29-2) vs. Long BEach State (21-4), 11 a.m.
>> Conferences: UCLA: Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, Long Beach State: Big West
>> NCAA RPI: UCLA: 1, LBSU: 4
>> Coaches: UCLA: John Speraw (11th), Long Beach State: Alan Knipe (20th year)
AVCA All-Americans
>> UCLA: OH Ethan Champlin (first), Opp Ido David (first), MB Merrick McHenry (first), S Andrew Rowan, OH Alex Knight (second), MB Guy Genis (HM), L Troy Gooch (HM)
>> Long Beach State: L Mason Briggs (first team), Opp Clarke Godbold (second), OH Spencer Olivier (second), OH Sotiris Siapanis (second), MB Simon Torwie (second), MB Shane Holdaway (HM), S Aidan Knipe (HM)
Matchup
It was 364 days ago that UCLA was one set away from playing in an NCAA final on its home court before Long Beach State pulled off a reverse sweep, taking the fifth set 16-14. The memory fueled the Bruins throughout the season and into today’s semifinal rematch with the Beach.
“In our locker room we have a picture of all of our reactions after that final ball dropped, and that’s motivation for this season,” outside hitter Ethan Champlin said.
LBSU also has redemption in mind, having dropped both ends a home-and-home series with UCLA on Feb. 9 and 10.
Of the matchups across the net, the duel in the middle may be the most intriguing. Long Beach State’s Simon Torwie, the nation’s leader with 1.61 blocks per set, was in on eight of the Beach’s 10.5 blocks in Tuesday’s four-set win over Grand Canyon and scored on 10 of his 11 swings. UCLA’s Merrick McHenry is the nation’s most efficient attacker at .537 and has been close to unstoppable over the Bruins’ past three matches, going 34-for-42 without an error.
“(McHenry’s) a very talented player and looking statistically at what he was able to do in the MPSF Tournament he’s doing some really special things offensively,” LBSU coach Alan Knipe said. “We pride ourselves in some things with our blocking and what Simon can do and I’m sure it’ll be interesting when that matchup ends up being those two.”
Hawaii (28-2) vs. Penn State (26-3), 1:30 p.m.
>> Conferences: Hawaii: Big West, Penn State: Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association
>> NCAA RPI: Hawaii: 3, Penn State: 2
>> Coaches: Hawaii: Charlie Wade (14th year), Penn State: Mark Pavlik (29th year)
AVCA All-Americans
>> Hawaii: Opp Dimitrios Mouchlias (first), S Jakob Thelle (first), MB Guilherme Voss (first), OH Spyros Chakas (second), OH Chaz Galloway (HM), L Brett Sheward (HM).
>> Penn State: S Cole Bogner (first), MB Toby Ezeonu (first), RS Cal Fisher (second), OH Michal Kowal (HM), L Ryan Merk (HM), MB Owen Rose, OH Brett Wildman (HM).
Matchup
Coaches will routinely point to the serve-and-pass game as the key to any match. Those elements figure to be amplified in a meeting of two of the nation’s strongest serving teams. Penn State ranks second in the nation with 2.00 aces per set, with Hawaii sixth at 1.72. The Nittany Lions had seven aces in their four-set win over UH on March 10 and drilled 10 in their NCAA quarterfinal win against Ohio State on Thursday. Cal Fisher (.671 aps) and Brett Wildman (.500) lead off Penn State’s serving rotation, and UH faced a comparable duo in UC Irvine’s Hilir Henno and Francesco Sani.
“Pretty similar,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “They’ve got two of the best servers in the country right in a row, and one’s a lefty (Fisher), and they both bring big-time heat. So it’ll be a good challenge for sure.”
UH counters with a serving lineup led by Jakob Thelle (121 career aces) and Spryos Chakas (team-high 26 this season). Dimitrios Mouchlias has 34 aces and serving sub Keoni Thiim has fired 20 in his one turn per set.
On the other end, both teams feature honorable mention All-America liberos in UH’s Brett Sheward and Penn State’s Ryan Merk, and their work in keeping their offenses in system figures to be a key.
“Everybody has big boys who hit the ball hard,” Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said. “The serving part of the game is becoming more and more important. It magnifies when you’re at this stage of the season with this caliber of teams.”
