{"id":308647,"date":"2026-05-10T06:48:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T06:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/308647\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T06:48:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T06:48:22","slug":"long-beach-state-falls-to-hawaii-in-ncaa-mens-volleyball-final-four-the562-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/308647\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach State Falls To Hawai\u2019i In NCAA Men\u2019s Volleyball Final Four \u2013 The562.org"},"content":{"rendered":"

The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was a bitter ending to an otherwise sweet season for Long Beach State men\u2019s volleyball.<\/p>\n

The Beach appeared in the NCAA Final Four at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday, a stage it has become familiar with over the last decade. But Long Beach State fell short of reaching the national championship match for a third straight season, losing to Hawai\u2019i in four sets, 25-15, 18-25, 25-21, 25-22.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you hit this moment, everybody is going to feel it in their own way,\u201d LBSU coach Nick MacRae said of the emotions after the match. \u201cAs competitors, of course we want to be on the other side. But as learners of life, you have to feel it, and as these guys know, it\u2019s all about how you respond to the moment. It\u2019s okay to feel it in real time because it means you put your blood, sweat, tears and soul into striving for it. All 17 guys are going through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The match marked the end of MacRae\u2019s first season as head coach, a year that featured the Beach\u2019s ninth Final Four appearance in the last 10 years despite an influx of young talent and plenty of obstacles. Seniors Connor Bloom, Dane Hillis and Skyler Varga joined him at the postgame press conference to reflect following their final match with the Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe culture of the team is the kind of thing that evolves with the people who come in this program and the people who believe,\u201d Bloom said. \u201cWe\u2019ve all just been striving to leave it better than we found it when we were freshman. The hope is that every year, every group of seniors can help improve and help grow the program and grow the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

For First-Team All-American outside hitter Varga, the loss marked the end of a collegiate career that began when he arrived in the United States to play for the Beach four years ago<\/a>. A large group of family members from Saskatchewan, Canada, was in attendance for his final match with Long Beach State.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt honestly didn\u2019t really hit me until I gave my mom a hug,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was hard. I know she\u2019s proud of me, and my entire family is. So, it was difficult to see my family in the end there. I\u2019m happy that they were able to experience my last match around me.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tough to look at the final stat sheet and expect any other result, as Hawai\u2019i dominated across the board. The Rainbow Warriors hit .337 on the night compared to Long Beach\u2019s .200 and outblocked the Beach 14-6. Long Beach did finish with six aces to Hawai\u2019i\u2019s four, but also committed eight more total errors, which were all hitting errors.<\/p>\n

Hawai\u2019i controlled all of those categories in the opening set, which the Beach dropped by 10 points. Long Beach committed 10 errors compared to just two from the Rainbow Warriors, who hit .529 while adding four blocks and two aces. The Beach managed just a .125 hitting percentage with eight hitting errors.<\/p>\n

Although a closer set, it was much the opposite for Long Beach State in the second, where it hit an improved .273 with just four errors compared to Hawai\u2019i\u2019s .200. The Beach\u2019s energy was the biggest difference in the set, fueling a 5-1 run to take control early. Long Beach never trailed after that and closed the set on a 5-0 run.<\/p>\n

Freshman opposite Wojciech Gajek led that final run and caught fire in the set, much like he did in the pair\u2019s Big West Championship matchup, as he recorded an ace and a kill during the run to help the Beach tie the match at one set apiece. He was at the forefront of plenty of player and fan gamesmanship Saturday night after throwing the shakas down in the championship match two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Long Beach State then fought the waves of the third set, which saw them trail 10-5 before a timeout called by MacRae. The Beach immediately came out of the break with a 5-0 run to tie the set, including three kills from Varga. Hawai\u2019i responded with all the momentum and closed the set on a 15-11 run.<\/p>\n

The Beach again failed to withstand the momentum swings in the fourth set. It was a promising start as Long Beach led 17-13, but that was followed by a 7-2 Hawai\u2019i run. The Rainbow Warriors later closed the set on a 5-2 run to clinch their first national championship appearance since 2023.<\/p>\n

Varga led the Beach on Saturday with\u00a0 13 kills, hitting .290 while adding an ace and three block assists. Gajek finished with 11 kills but hit just .034 with 10 hitting errors, also chipping in an ace. Jackson Cryst had five kills, two aces and five blocks, while Jake Pazanti posted team highs with 38 assists and seven digs.<\/p>\n

Interestingly enough, Hawai\u2019i\u2019s win officially snapped a 14-year streak of repeat NCAA champions. Had Long Beach State reached the final and won again, it would have become the seventh consecutive program to repeat as national champion.<\/p>\n

Hawai\u2019i will gear up to face UC Irvine on Monday in an all-Big West NCAA championship match at 4pm in Pauley Pavilion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl. It was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-308647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}