No. 4 Long Beach sweeps No. 1 Hawaii men’s volleyball

Long Beach State outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis put away a season-high 19 kills to lead the fourth-ranked Beach to a sweep of the top-ranked University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team tonight at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

LBSU outside hitter Spencer Olivier’s 13th kill closed out the Beach’s 25-20, 29-27, 25-22 win before a crowd of 6,709 as UH was swept for the first time since Jan. 29, 2022, at Ball State and for the first time at home since a loss to BYU on March 5, 2020.

The Beach fought off four set points in the second set on their way to handing UH its first conference loss at home since April 13, 2018, also against LBSU.

UH opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias led the Warriors (17-2, 0-1 BWC) with 15 kills on 32 attacks, outside hitter Chaz Galloway added 10 and middle blocker Guilherme Voss scored on all seven of his attempts.

>> PHOTOS: Hawaii vs. LBSU

Outside hitter Spyros Chakas, the Big West’s kills per set leader, finished with seven kills and a season-high eight errors.

UH and Long Beach meet again on Saturday at 7 p.m. to close the series.

Last season, Long Beach State (12-2, 3-0) swept the regular-season series with UH at the Walter Pyramid and the Warriors swept the Beach in the Big West and NCAA Tournament championship games.

Tonight, the Beach hit .484 with just seven attack errors to post the highest hitting percentage for a UH opponent this season.