BeachBows Bid For Big West Repeat Falls Short

SANTA MONICA, Calif. —The University of Hawai’i beach volleyball team’s quest for a second straight conference title came to a close with a 3-0 semifinal loss to Long Beach State in the 2025 Big West Beach Volleyball Championship Friday at Ocean Park in Santa Monica. 

The No. 3 seed Rainbow Wahine started the day with a thrilling 3-2 win over No. 5 seed UC Davis (18-17) to advance to the semifinals. But UH’s road ended in the semis as the Beach (26-11) defeated UH for the second time this season and avenged last year’s loss in the tournament title match on their home turf.  In the process, UH failed to advance to the conference championship match for just the second time in nine years of the event.

A day after going 1-1 in pool play, UH met up with UC Davis on Friday morning to begin single-elimination bracket play. UH took a 2-1 dual lead on the strength of straight set wins by Alana Embry and Julia Lawrenz at the No. 1 court and Sarah Burton and Caprice Lorenzo at the No. 3 court. 

It came down to the No. 2 and No. 4 court which each went to three-set nail biters. Kimi Waller and Alex Leal got past Sophie Buschmann and Sydney Miller, 15-12, in the third set to even up the dual, 2-2. But moments later the UH duo of Amirah Ali and Jasmine Wandeler clinched the dual for UH by prevailing 15-13 over Emily Uhrinak and Kendal Steller at the No. 2 court.

That UH win set up a rematch of last year’s championship match as the ‘Bows took on LBSU, seeded second in the tournament and No. 10 nationally.  The Beach punched their ticket to the finals to take on top-seeded Cal Poly by taking flights 1, 2 and 4 in straight sets. With the dual clinched, Courts 3 and 5 went unfinished though the duo of Burton and Lorenzo were just a point away from earning their second win of the day leading 20-15 in the second set. Ultimately, LBSU took home the victory, just their second against the BeachBows in 13 all-time meetings in the Big West tournament.

UH, ranked 15th nationally entering the Big West Championship, concludes its regular-season with a 14-21 record. 

Hawai’i 3 UC Davis 2

1. Embry/Lawrenz (UH) def. Kylie Miller/Tabitha Mitchell (UCD) 22-20, 21-16

2. Ali/Wandeler (UH) def. Uhrinak/Steller (UCD) 21-12, 13-21, 15-13

3. Burton/Lorenzo (UH) def. Skye Smolinski/Mia Olen (UCD) 21-15, 21-19

4. Waller/Leal (UCD) def. Buschmann/Miller (UH) 21-19, 17-21, 15-12

5. LIndsay Heller/Kate O’Steen (UCD) def. Sydney Amiatu/Kristen Serrano (UH) 21-18, 21-9

Order of finish: 5, 3, 1, 4, 2

Long Beach State 3 Hawai’i 0

1. Malia Gementera/Taylor Hagenah (LBSU) def. Embry/Lawrenz (UH) 21-11, 21-16

2. Haley Carrington/Julia Westby def. Ali/Wandeler (UH) 21-17, 21-14

3. Burton/Lorenzo (UH) vs. Demi Wagdy/Megan Widener (LBSU) 21-19, 20-15, unfinished

4. Skyler Germann/Natalie Glenn (LBSU) def. Buschmann/Miller (UH) 21-13, 21-13

5. Amiatu/Serrano (UH) vs. Mahala Esser/Tineke Hinton (LBSU) 17-21, 14-16, unfinished

Order of finish: 4, 1, 2