#6 Hawaii Beats #5 LBSU to Advance to Big West Beach Championship

2017 Big West Beach Volleyball Championships

• April 28-29, 2017
• Pismo  Beach, California
• Championship Central
• Bracket After Day 1

The #2 seed in the 2017 Big West Beach Volleyball Championships, Hawaii, beat the #1 seed, Long Beach State, on Saturday afternoon to advance to the championship game of the 2017 tournament.

Hawaii beat out LBSU 3-2, winning the 2, 3, and 4 lines, to advance to the championship match. Meanwhile, in the loser’s bracket, 3rd-seeded Cal Poly swept CSUB 5-0 to advance as well. They’ll know play Long Beach State in the loser’s bracket final, where the winner will then have to knock off Hawaii twice this afternoon to take the title.

AVCA #6 Hawaii def. AVCA #4 LBSU

1. Nele Barber/Rachel Nieto (LBSU) def. Mikayla Tucker/Morgan Martin (Hawaii) 2-0 (21-9, 21-190
2. Nikki Taylor/Kai’iwi Schucht (Hawaii) def. Sasha Karelov/Kobi Pekich (LBSU) 2-0 (21-14, 21-18)
3. Anete Brinke/Hailey Harward (Hawaii) def. Emily Maglio/Laurel Weaver (LBSU) 2-0 (21-13, 21-19)
4. Ari Homayun/Carly Kan (Hawaii) def. Morea Wagner/Heather Weiss (LBSU) 2-0 (21-18, 21-16)
5. Jenelle Hudson/Megan Kruidhof (LBSU) def. Amy Ozee/Hannah Zalopany (LBSU) 2-0 (21-14, 26-24)

The big showdown came at the 1-line, where Nele Barber and Rachel Nieto beat Hawaii’s Mikayla Tucker and Morgan Martin. Tucker and Martin are now just 19-12 on the season, but Hawaii’s strength is through the middle part of their order, where they won a the 2, 3, and 4 lines.

The outcome is a reversal of the two teams’ last matchup, which was won by LBSU by a 3-2 score. Since then, however, Hawaii has had a lineup shakeup, moving Carly Kan and Ari Homayun up to #4. That change, at a line they lost in the last meeting, plus Taylor and Schucht reversing the point at #2, swung the final scoring in favor of the Wahine.