The University of Hawaii served best once when it fell behind. After catching up, it had the hammers to put Long Beach State away.
Sinisa Zarkovic posted 18 kills and Kupono Fey added 17 on Saturday night as the Rainbows swept the 49ers 25-19, 26-24, 27-25 in front of 6,846 fans at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation quarterfinals in Honolulu.
UH fought off five set points in Game 3 to advance to the league semifinals for the first time since 2010. Second-seeded Hawaii (24-5) will face No. 3 Pepperdine on Thursday in Irvine, Calif.
UH saved seven set point in all, scoring the last four points of Game 2.
“That a credit to our teammates and to our “B’ team,” Fey said on the OCSports broadcast. “They push us everyday in practice. We have to claw to beat them. Credit to (Alex) Jones for great serves. Credit Davis (Holt) for blocks.”
Jones, the backup setter, was a catalyst with his serves late in both the second and third sets.
Fey notched a career-high with 19 kills last weekend at BYU, but UH fell twice to end the regular season, losing its 16-game winning streak and its No. 1 ranking.
But the sophomore outside hitter stepped up again to begin the postseason, finishing with a double-double (12 digs) and hitting, .387.
“If there is one think we can take away from the BYU loss it’s that I can put the ball away” Fey said.
“It’s not usually my role to be the go-to guy, but they gave me the opportunity, and I took advantage of it.”
Zarkovic hit .405, while Taylor Averill and Brook Sedore added seven and six kills, respectively.
Jones served the last three points of the second set. Holt came up with two blocks and Zarkovic’s kills gave UH a 2-0 lead.
Jones’s serve helped keep his team in the third set, and kills by Zarkovic and Fey helped deliver match point, which the Rainbow Warriors converted when Zarkovic’s serve led to an attack error.
Dan Glamack compiled 13 kills for the seventh-seeded 49ers (13-15), who were outhit .285-.164.
Hawaii needed four and five games in twice beating Pepperdine at home during the regular season.
“They are a huge team,” Fey said. “They have a lot of big guys. That is there strength.”
The other semifinal matches top-seeded UC Irvine and No. 4 USC, which survived a five-setter against BYU.
Baseball
Quentin Torres-Costa closed out No. 7 UC Santa Barbara, securing a 1-0 victory in Honolulu.
The Waiakea graduate got one strikeout and allowed a hit in 1 1/3 innings for his fourth save after Tyler Brashears worked the first 7 2/3 innings.
UH (15-25, 6-8 Big West) scored in the sixth. Stephen Ventimilia singled with one out, stole second and scored on Kaeo Aliviado’s two-out hit.
Hilo graduate Chayce Ka’aau was 2 for 3.
Brashears (6-4) struck out five, outdueling Justin Jacome (6-2), who fanned seven in eight innings for the Gauchos (30-10, 7-4).
The rubber game of the three-game series is at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.
Water polo
Paula Chillida Esforzado’s fourth goal broke a tie midway through the fourth quarter in Honolulu, and UH beat second-seeded Cal State Northridge 6-5 to reach the Big West championship game
Claire Nixon scored twice for the third-seeded Wahine, who will face top-seeded UC Irvine at 6 p.m. Sunday for the title.
Softball
UC Santa Barbara doubled its league win total, sweeping a doubleheader from UH (27-21, 8-7 Big west) in Honolulu.
Home runs by Kayler Wartner and Leisha Liilii went to waste in a 5-3 loss in the opener in which Kanani Aina Cabrales (12-14) allowed 10 hits in 5 1/3.
In 5-1 loss in the second game, MeShalon Moore connected for a grand slam against Brittany Hitchcock (14-7) and finished with five RBIs for the Gauchos (17-31, 4-11).
