Playing with cool efficiency from "Hawai'i Pono'i" to aloha ball, the University of Hawai'i volleyball team cruised to a 30-21, 30-25, 30-22 rout of Long Beach State last night in the Stan Sheriff Center.

Before 2,248, the Warriors ignored current events (the 49ers entered as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's leader) and history (the 49ers' serves were difficult to pass in last year's playoff match) to win in 100 minutes.

In improving to 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the MPSF, the Warriors won on opening night for the first time in four two-match series this season. The 49ers fell to 11-3 overall and 6-2 in the MPSF.

"This is what happens when we play Warrior volleyball," opposite attacker Lauri Hakala said. "We were well-focused, well-prepared, and we played excellent."

UH setter Brian Beckwith added: "We were really focused on getting out of that first-night jitters, and we really came out with aggressiveness in all aspects of our play."

Volleyball, at its basics, is reduced to the serve-and-pass phases — areas of frustration for the Warriors in last year's playoff match between the teams. This time, the Warriors consistently — and accurately — passed the 49ers' serves, and, in particular, easily handled their nemesis. Middle blocker Duncan Budinger mixed jump serves and jump-floaters, but neither proved effective. The 49ers did not score any points on his nine serves.

"They just came out and played good," Budinger said. "That's about it, I guess. They seemed to pass the ball really well."

Budinger tried to blast his first two jump serves. After that, he went with his pet jump-floater, a knuckleball he tries to place near the sidelines.

"Passing a float-serve is not easy, and he has a good one," UH libero Alfee Reft said. "We know he has a good serve. Everybody knows he has a good serve. But you can't come into a game letting that be your whole mentality. You have to focus on all aspects."

Still, the 49ers appeared to become increasingly frustrated as their best shots were parlayed into seamless passes near the net. The 49ers scored 12 points on their 69 serves; the Warriors scored 33 points on 89 serves.

The passes gave Beckwith a wide menu of options. The three perimeter attackers — Hakala and left-side hitters José José Delgado and Matt Carere — each buried 13 kills. The Warriors committed six errors in 93 swings.

"When you can pass, the rest falls into place," Beckwith said.

In turn, the Warriors' serves short-circuited the 49ers' offense. UH's active block and sprawling defense tracked All-America setter Tyler Hildebrand's sets.

Left-side hitter Robert Tarr hammered a match-high 16 kills, but he was blocked six times.

"He's their big hitter," said middle Mauli'a LaBarre, who had his handprints on seven of the Warriors' 13.5 blocks. "We had to stay focused, play the percentages and play tough."

UH's serving strategy was this: Aim at areas, not players.

"We tried to serve our best serve all of the time," Delgado said. "We wanted to put the ball in, and let them make mistakes. We knew if we could serve tough, we would have a chance."

Carere said the serves helped the Warriors construct the blocks. "When Brian (Beckwith) and Lauri (Hakala) and the rest of the guys are hitting good serves, it makes it easy for us up at the net."

UH received a boost in Game 1 when Sean Carney, replacing Dio Dante behind the end line, served five points in a row to extend the Warriors' lead to 27-17. The surge included Carney's first career ace.

"I thought Game 1, both teams were neck-and-neck, and then they got a nice run, and from that point on, they had us out of our system," 49er coach Alan Knipe said. "We had a tough time stopping them. They did a nice job siding out. We tried to put some pressure on them with our serving. I thought they passed the ball really well tonight. When we had balls we could block or plays we could make, we didn't turn them."

Delgado said: "That wasn't the Long Beach team we expected. They were probably tired from the travel. They're a great team, a Top-3 team."

But Hildebrand said fatigue was not a factor.

"They're good, and they were ready to go, and they played their best, and we sucked," Hildebrand said. "I thought they played great. I've got to hand it to them. They're a great team."

The rematch is tonight, with the first serve at about 7:05.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.