No. 6 Hawaii defeated No. 3 UC Irvine 25-16, 25-23, 20-25, 25-18 in the Big West volleyball tournament semifinals on Friday at the Walter Pyramid at Long Beach, Calif.
In the other semifinal, host and No. 1 Long Beach swept No. 9 Cal State Northridge 25-23, 25-13, 25-17.
CSUN junior libero Emmett Enriques, a 2015 Kamehameha graduate, had five digs and two assists.
Hawaii (19-7) plays the Beach (25-1) at 4 p.m. HST Saturday in the inaugural Big West tournament championship for a berth to the NCAA championships. The match will air on ESPN3.
Against UC Irvine, UH opposite Rado Parapunov led the charge with 15 kills, four aces, and four blocks.
“I was glad to see our efficiency get back and at the end of the day we end up pretty much what our number is on the year,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “Overall, pretty good effort from us.”
Stijn van Tilburg added 11 kills while Brett Rosenmeier had 10 kills and six digs for UH, which hit .356.
“I actually felt, truly felt that it was a little off today,” junior setter Joe Worsley said of the team’s performance in a release. “I felt we started off in a little bit of a funk.
“Guys like Stijn helped us get in a rhythm, started passing. We were able to get our middles going, but guys were taking really good out-of-system swings and that’s something we’ve been working on and that always helps.”
Karl Apefelbach had a team-high 14 kills for the Anteaters (21-9).
The match featured the NCAA’s No. 4 (UC Irvine) and No. 5 (Hawaii) teams, which likely meant the winner gained better position for an at-large spot to the seven-team NCAA championships.
It’s almost a lock that Long Beach State will receive an at-large berth should it lose.
As for the Rainbow Warriors, it’s more likely than not that they’ll get an at-large berth if they lose. But they can guarantee themselves a spot with a victory.
UH beat Long Beach in five sets last Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center, despite the efforts of junior outside hitter TJ DeFalco, the conference player of the year, who had 25 kills.
It was the Beach’s first loss of the season and showed the rest of the Big West that they’re not unbeatable.