Hawaii defeated conference leader Long Beach in their second home game after a five-set thriller. After losing their first match in front of over 10,000 spectators, the hosts, who also played the second match without the injured Kristian Titriyski, came out extremely motivated on the court and managed to win 3:2 (21:25, 25:20, 18:25, 25:19, 15:13), even though the guests led 2:1 in sets. Thus, one round before the end of the regular season in the Big West conference, both teams have an equal number of wins - 6:2, and everything will be decided in the final matches next week. Long Beach hosts San Diego and Hawaii will meet Santa Barbara.
Moni Nikolov – the country's leader in aces – failed to record a single ace in the two matches against UH.📉

📊Beachmade27 service errorsagainst only 17 for Hawaii. This proved crucial.

Another strong match for Alex Kundev, who finished as his team's top scorer - 18 points (2 blocks). Despite his physical discomfort, Moni Nikolov remained true to himself and was again the team's leader, making 49 flawless passes converted into points by his teammates, scoring 9 points (4 blocks) and managing to save 6 balls in defense.

🥇 Finn Kearney once again shone with 17 points, even though he played both as an opposite and a receiver – a full substitute for the injured Kristian Titriyski. Kurt Nusterer raised the bar with a career-high 10 points and 6 blocks, and Louis Sakanoko sealed the win with the last two rallies of the match.