LOS ANGELES - The Ball State men's volleyball season has come to a close. The No. 2 Cardinals fell to the No. 3 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Thursday night (May 5) in the national semifinal 3-2 (28-26, 19-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-11).

Despite a 14-4 run in the opening set, the Cardinals dropped frame one. The Cardinals used a 12-5 hot start in the second set to even the match at a set apiece. In set three, Ball State again jumped out to an early lead thanks to an 11-4 run. BSU used this to take a 2-1 advantage. The Rainbow Warriors responded in the fourth by jumping out to an 11-4 lead of their own, a lead which they nursed for the remainder of the set. This forced a fifth set for a trip to the national championship match.

Hawaii got off to a 4-0 run to start the fifth, which included two aces. After Hawaii got up 10-3, Ball State cut the lead to 10-7, but did not get any closer.

The Rainbow Warriors were led by Spyros Chakas and Dimitrios Mouchlias, who tallied 19 kills each. Ball State got 33 combined kills out of Kaleb Jenness and Angelos Mandilaris. Felix Egharevba had eight blocks.

Hawaii moves on to play Long Beach State in the national championship match. Ball State finishes its first season under AVCA National Coach of the Year Donan Cruz with a record of 23-4.