Long Beach State was waiting.
The defending national champions had the luxury of sitting back after turning back UC Santa Barbara in Friday’s first semifinal and awaiting the outcome of the late semifinal between third-seeded UC Irvine and second-seeded Hawaii.
The 49ers (26-1) didn’t care who they saw in tonight’s 8 o’clock final at the Stan Sheriff Center. Either way, “It will be a good match,” Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe said. “I imagine the fans want to see it be Hawaii. There’s been a lot of noise outside both teams about that.
“We’re just excited to advance. When you think about playing Hawaii, you think about them being confident and physical.”
That was the Rainbow Warriors team that showed up Friday against the Anteaters. As did the fans, with 7,512 showing up early — the parking structure was full before 6 p.m. — and staying through the 85 minutes that was Hawaii’s 25th sweep of the season.
Behind Rado Parapunov’s 12 kills with no errors, and an offense that hit .441, the Warriors advanced to the conference title match for a third straight year via a 25-17, 25-16, 25-18 victory over UCI.
And, for a third straight year, Hawaii will see Long Beach State. The 49ers needed 2 hours and 10 minutes to top the Gauchos 25-19, 21-25, 25-18, 25-17 in Friday’s first semifinal to set up the third meeting in nine days between the top two teams in the country.
The difference from the previous two seasons? It is not at the Pyramid, where the 49ers have won their last 41, but at the Sheriff Center, where the Warriors are 15-0 this season.
One added fact from last season. Long Beach State’s only loss of its championship season came the last time the 49ers played Hawaii in the Sheriff Center, on the Warriors’ senior night of 2018.
“I‘m happy with the way we played tonight,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “We had a little setback last week (falling at Long Beach State twice in five) and we were disappointed in the way we played. We took a nice step forward tonight and we’re excited to advance.”
“We’ve played in several tournaments this season and we’re used to preparing for one team at a time,” said Hawaii senior setter Joe Worsley, who moved into ninth on Hawaii’s all-time list for career assists (2,590), passing Erik Pichel (2,580) early in Set 3. “It would have been easy to look ahead to Saturday, but we’ve done a good job all year at preparing for one team at a time. Now the focus will be on Long Beach.”
In Set 3, UCI made one of its strongest challenges of the night, closing to 12-11 on Joel Schneidmiller’s ace. The Warriors answered behind a 5-0 serving run by senior hitter Stijn van Tilburg that included three kills by Parapunov and a solo block of 6-foot-8 senior opposite Karl Apfelbach by Colton Cowell.
Apfelbach had 12 kills to lead the Anteaters (18-11).
“There’s clearly a defined No. 1 and 2 teams in the country and both in the Big West,” UCI coach David Kniffin said. “I think you’ll see a highly potent offensive match from both teams and matches very similar to what you saw last week at the Pyramid. A couple plays defensively could be the difference.”
Parapunov struggled last week against the 49ers and “I did not play as well as I wanted,” he said. “It was good to be back and playing at home.”
The athletic but undersized 6-2 Cowell was the “X Factor” against UCI, with nine kills and four blocks. Hawaii, the top blocking team in the country, outblocked the Anteaters 9.5-6. In the series at Long Beach State last week, the Warriors were outblocked 29.5-17.
Long Beach State 3, UC Santa Barbara 1
Senior opposite Kyle Ensing put down 18 kills with just one error and senior hitter TJ DeFalco added 11 kills and three of the team’s seven aces for the 49ers.
Senior hitter Corey Chavers led the Gauchos (18-10) with 13 kills and sophomore middle Brandon Hopper added 10. Conference freshman of the year Ryan Wilcox (Punahou) finished with seven kills and six digs.
The 49ers outblocked the Gauchos 10-4.5, their third consecutive match with double-digit blocks.
Sophomore hitter Ethan Siegfried (Punahou) added five kills for the 49ers.
