The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2024-25 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team wasn’t all that pleased with how they played Thursday night in a four-set win over UC Santa Barbara. The No. 1-ranked Beach bounced back in a big way Friday night in the Walter Pyramid with a dominant sweep of the Gauchos, holding them to .012 in a 25-14, 25-20, 25-17 sweep.
The match was one of the Beach’s (23-1) most dominant of the season, as they outhit the Gauchos .347 to .012, outdug them 32-18, outblocked them 10-14, and posted five aces to UCSB’s zero.
“We prep all year how we want to handle these back to backs,” said LBSU coach Alan Knipe. “You’re learning to be 100% of whatever you are that night, because you’re probably not going to be as fresh…I thought the guys did a really good job…I’m not just talking about a win, I’m talking about reproducing the effort, the attention to detail, the physicality. It was great all week and then they did a great job on a short week.”
Incredibly, although the national championship is more than a month away, Friday night’s match was practically the end of the home schedule for the Beach. They play two in Hawaii next week, then travel to UCSD before hosting the Tritons on April 19, which will be their last home match of the year. After that they’re in Hawaii again for the Big West Tournament and then fly to Columbus for the NCAA Tournament.
Knipe feels his team is ready for the spotlight and intensity of those big matches all being on the road.
“The guys do a good job in front of the crowd,” he said. “Our crowd is amazing and everywhere we went this year, every team has had record crowds. We look forward to getting after it.”
The Beach got after it plenty against the Gauchos on Friday. Alex Kandev continued his excellent play with 11 kills on .526 hitting, with seven digs, four blocks and three aces. Daniil Hershtynovich had 11 kills, six digs and three blocks. Skyler Varga had four kills on a low hitting percentage (.167) but led a dominant Beach effort on the end line. Varga served the ball 23 times in the match, more than double the run that any Gaucho was able to go on.
“Even though yesterday we won, it wasn’t how we wanted it to go,” he said. “I think we were all a little bit disappointed with how we performed, and it honestly kind of felt like a loss…but I think that definitely gave us fuel for today.”
The Beach only notched five aces, but their dominance in every facet of the game started with the serve performance; coupled with one of their best efforts of the year digging balls, that led to a lot of ripped serves.
“Defense is 100% controllable, it’s effort,” said Knipe. “I thought our guys were very intentional with how hard they played tonight whether it was covering balls, digging balls.”
Star setter Moni Nikolov had 27 assists and the team hit .509 on balls he set; he also had an ace, five digs, a block, and four kills (on .125 hitting). Remarkably, these are subpar numbers for the freshman, and his frustration with himself was evident on the court. Knipe pulled him aside after a shaky second set where the Beach hit just .061 (they hit .550 in set one and .632 in the third set). It was a moment reminiscent of on-court chats Knipe would have with former National Player of the Year TJ DeFalco, who also had enormously high expectations for himself.
“I was frustrated, yeah,” said Nikolov. “I talked with coach. He didn’t say a lot, but he really helped me just relax for a bit. We’re kind of professionals here–not officially, but the way we handle business is professional. And I knew that I had to get together and be there for the team. I’m still improving on that, I have a lot of issues with self-criticism and everything. I know that I need to fix that and not show that again.”
The Beach will enjoy a few days to get their legs underneath them and then hit the road for two critical Big West matches at Hawaii Friday and Saturday next week.
