Hawaii Beats Long Beach State 4-1 to Claim 2017 Big West Beach Title

2017 Big West Beach Volleyball Championships

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

The 6th-ranked Rainbow Wahine beach volleyball team of the University of Hawaii are the 2017 Big West Conference Champions after a convincing 4-1 defeat of 5th-ranked Long Beach State on Saturday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, the teams squared off in the final of the winner’s bracket, and Hawaii won 3-2. Long Beach St. fought back, beating Cal Poly 3-2, to get another crack at the Wahine, but the outcome in the rematch was decidedly more emphatic.

Hawaii was the winner on the first 3 courts to finish, #4, #2, and #3, in that order. Those were the 3 courts where Hawaii won in the teams’ earlier matchup.

Then, with the outcome of the team competition decided, all that was left to play for was pride (and, for some, a possible berth in the AVCA pairs national championship tournament).

At the 1 line, Hawaii’s Mikayla Tucker and Morgan Martin avenged their earlier loss to LBSU’s Nele Barber and Rachel Nieto with a 3-set win (13-21, 21-19, 15-12). LBSU would finish off the day with a 3-set win on court 5.

#6 Hawaii def. #5 Long Beach State 4-1

1. Mikayla Tucker/Morgan Martin (Hawaii) def. Nele Barber/Rachel Nieto (LBSU) 2-1 (13-21, 21-19, 15-11)
2. Nikki Taylor/Ka’iwi Schucht (Hawaii) def. Sasha Karelov/Kobi Pekich (LBSU) 2-0 (21-18, 21-12)
3. Emily Maglio/Laurel Weaver (Hawaii) def. Anete Brinke/Hailey Harward 2-0 (22-20, 21-18)
4. Ari Homavun/Carly Kan (Hawaii) def. Morea Wagner/Heather Weiss (LBSU) 2-0 (21-19, 21-14)
5. Jenelle Hudson/Megan Kruidhof (LBSU) def. Amy Ozee/Hannah Zalopany (Hawaii) 2-1 (23-21, 16-21, 15-10)

Hawaii’s #4 pair of Ari Homavun and Carly Kan won their 13th-straight dual match, which is a program record. That streak has survived even a move from the 5 line up to the 4 line. Kan, a former standout indoors for Missouri, has proven a valuable addition this semester for Hawaii. At 29-3, she and partner Ari Homayun tie with Emily Maglio/Laurel Weaver for the team’s best record this season.

Say hello to you Big West Conference Champions! pic.twitter.com/GATu624WFw

— UH Beach Volleyball (@UHBeachVolley) April 29, 2017

REPEAT!!!????#HawaiiBVB #RaiseTheCup #BWCBeachVB ##GoBows pic.twitter.com/XIpZv5nb1b

— UH Beach Volleyball (@UHBeachVolley) April 29, 2017