The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team opens the 2025 season with high expectations, fresh off a runner-up performance in the national championship match in 2024. The Beach fell to UCLA at the Walter Pyramid in the final match of the season, and sure enough, this year’s AVCA national poll opened with the Bruins No. 1 and Long Beach State No. 2, expected to meet up once again in the national title match in 2025 in Columbus, Ohio.
With the Beach off to a hot start, Long Beach State now sits at No. 1 in the nation.
“I really like the team a lot,” said LBSU head coach Alan Knipe. “I don’t think we’re very polished right now, there’s a lot of work to do.”
The Beach were the pick to win the Big West Conference in their preseason coaches’ poll, no surprise given the team’s historic success and also wealth of returning and new talent. The Beach have returning All-Americans in outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis and opposite hitter Skyler Varga. Both players were named to the Preseason All-Big West Team.
Joining them on that team is freshman setter Moni Nikolov, who comes to the Beach with massive expectations. Nikolov is the younger brother of Alex Nikolov, who was the first-ever men’s volleyball player named AVCA National Player of the Year as a freshman, when he starred for Long Beach State in 2022. Alex is now a professional player as well as a star on the Bulgarian National Team.
Moni, the new Nikolov superstar for the Beach, is a 6-8 setter who is instantly transformative with his setting skills as well as his strength as a server and a blocker. He’s also on the Bulgarian National Team and is one of the top setters in the world already as a teenager, and last week he hit an 80mph serve for an ace in Chicago.
“Until you see him in person you don’t really realize he has the size of a middle blocker or an opposite, the arm of an outside or opposite, and the desire to kill balls like one,” said Knipe. “But he’s our setter. You have to kind of come see it in person to see it. He’s a multi-faceted threat.”
The Beach will be seeking a fourth NCAA title this year with a rigorous schedule that includes 11 opponents ranked in the top 15 last year. They’ve opened up 4-0 and will host Concordia Friday then travel Saturday to Pepperdine in nonconference play, then will face No. 1 UCLA in a national championship rematch in the Walter Pyramid on Feb. 7, followed by a road match at UCLA on Feb. 12.
The Beach then hosts Vanguard, Grand Canyon, and Barton in February.
Long Beach State will open Big West play at CSUN in March before hosting six Big West matches that month. This year’s huge LB/Hawaii matches will take place on the islands April 11-12, and the Rainbow Warriors will also host the Big West Tournament April 24-26. Ohio State hosts the NCAA championship May 6-12.
