IRVINE — The UC Irvine men’s volleyball team came into the Big West Tournament semifinals on Friday night with one advantage, home court, but no real backup plan.
Such are the vagaries of a crowded postseason field that a team ranked ninth nationally is banking on a successful parlay. The Anteaters (18-10) hit the first part Friday, upsetting fourth-ranked Long Beach State (20-4) in three sets, 25-21, 25-17, 25-20, at the Bren Events Center.
Now they head into the final against third-ranked Hawaii (26-2) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU) knowing a win would give them an automatic berth into the seven-team NCAA tournament and a loss probably leaves them on the outside looking in for a wild-card berth.
It was third-seeded UCI’s best win of the season in a year in which 20 of their 28 matches came against ranked teams. Outside hitter Hilir Henno, a sophom*ore from France, was impressive all night with 22 kills and a .471 hitting percentage plus two aces, seven digs and three blocks.
UCI hit .329 overall and shut down second-seeded Long Beach’s attack (a season-low .157 hitting percentage), forcing 19 attack errors and limiting LBSU to 11 blocks.
The Anteaters reversed last weekend’s results, Long Beach taking a 3-0 win at home and rallying for a 3-2 win at UCI to earn a share of the Big West regular-season title. LBSU is now on the wild-card block, someplace no team wants to be tourney-wise.
“A 3-0 win sounds like we were in control,” UCI coach David Kniffin said. “But we felt all season like we were often one touch or one play from a different direction. (Tonight), we put ourselves in a position to win.
“You have to have a short memory after having an 0-2 weekend against a team like Long Beach. It’s a gift athletes have to have, and it was a big deal for us tonight.”
Long Beach rarely led all evening, the Anteaters setting the tone with aggressive edge hitting and a few miscues. LBSU led the opening set 13-12 when a block attempt trickled to the court and an attack error led to a 15-13 UCI lead. Long Beach trailed by three or more points for the balance of the set.
Four Irvine service errors kept Long Beach close early in the second set, but a 7-2 run led by Henno gave UCI a six-point margin and Long Beach couldn’t close. Tied at 12 in the third set, Henno had two kills and William D’Arcy an ace to give the Anteaters a lead they never gave up.
Maxim Grigoriev had six blocks for UCI, and Francesco Sani had eight kills and five blocks.
Long Beach’s Clarke Godbold had nine kills and three blocks, Simon Torwie had five kills and three blocks and Shane Holdaway had six kills (.444 hitting percentage) and two blocks off the bench.
Next up is a date with the two-time defending national champions, who defeated UCI 3-0 and 3-1 earlier this month in Hawaii and swept UC Santa Barbara, 25-18, 25-19, 25-18, in the early semifinal.
“We’re excited to play Hawaii,” Kniffin said. “I think we’ve proven we’re capable of competing against the top five teams in the nation. As far as the wild card, it’s a bit muddy with a lot of good teams, but I think tonight we passed the eye test.”
“Obviously, it’s hard to beat a good time three times in a row,” Long Beach coach Alan Knipe said, “especially when you’ve just played them. It wasn’t our best match but the result had more to do with how Irvine played.”
Long Beach now waits to see how the NCAA committee decides on two wild-card teams in a field that doesn’t consider the power disparity nationally. They have the best overall record of any contenders with the selection show scheduled for Sunday at 10 a.m. PT.
“I think our body of work is solid,” said Knipe, who led long Beach to NCAA titles in 2018 and 2019. “There are a lot of criteria always mentioned when a decision goes to committee. But we had a great year with a lot of great wins.”
Long Beach handed Hawaii one of its two losses (in Honolulu) and lost only to the Warriors and top-ranked UCLA (twice) before Friday.
“I think we checked a lot of boxes,” Knipe said. “You don’t want it to come down to a wild card.
“I think the Big West is a great example that the NCAA tournament field is too small, with us having three teams ranked in the top 10. Every year, there’s a team left out that can win a national title. It’s a rabbit hole that’s just too small for a sport as good as volleyball.”
