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In the midst of an 18-match win streak, the victories can become monotonous–especially when you’re dominating opponents to the tune of nine straight sweeps. That’s certainly not the case for the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team. The unanimous No. 1 team in the nation took it to Princeton on Saturday night in the Walter Pyramid, playing with an edge and a chip on their shoulder that led to plenty of chatter through the net, and ultimately a yellow card for middle blocker Nato Dickinson after he yelled through the net following a big kill.
Whatever it is that’s keeping them sharp, it’s clear that there’s nothing ‘routine’ about the way the Beach has started the season, either in the last two months or in last night’s 25-19, 25-22, 25-19 victory over the No. 19-ranked Tigers.
“We’re never looking to be chippy with another team, but it’s about the quality in our own gym,” said Long Beach State assistant McKay Smith after the game. “If you come watch our practices it’s not one sided…we have that playoff-type competition in our own gym. The competitive nature of the guys on our team…sometimes the emotion just comes out, in everything we do. But no matter who is the opponent, the push happens during the week in our own gym.”
The Beach couldn’t be playing a more entertaining brand of volleyball. Skyler Varga put on an absolute show, with 11 kills on .476 hitting, four aces, three blocks, and five digs. He also had the play of the night on a kick save running past the end line, which popped up allowing star setter Moni Nikolov a huge kill. The play drew an extended cheer and applause from the Beach crowd of more than 2,200 fans.
“I’m finally finding that groove again in all areas as an outside hitter,” he said of playing middle back. “It’s all coming together really well, and it gives me the freedom to make those kick saves.”
The team hit .333 as the nation’s most efficient offense was once again guided by the best player in the nation in Nikolov. The freshman had 30 assists, three aces, four kills, two blocks, and two digs on what felt, remarkably, like a routine night for him. The three aces put an emphasis point on a weekend where he had 10 aces in two nights, rocketing past the previous record for aces in a season in program history–he now has 65, and is just 14 shy of the NCAA record for most in a season. He’s also averaging more than 1 ace per set–the next highest in the nation is Irvine’s reigning National POY Hilir Henno, at .673.
The Beach were in a tight second set with Princeton when Nikolov took the back line and notched a pair of aces as part of a big run, including a 33 mph “changeup” that stole the Tigers’ legs as they sat back and then tried to come forward.
“We all know when Moni goes back to the end line we’re about to see him maybe blow out a whole lead right there,” said Smith. “His size, his arm, his ability to hit his serve and also his ability to take off heat which you saw tonight, that’s what’s allowed him to already break our Long Beach State record.”
As always, Nikolov was joined by this special group of arms putting pressure on teams from the end line. The Beach had eight aces, meaning more than 10% of the points they scored on Saturday night came from the end line. Varga had four and Daniil Hershtynovich had another. Varga pointed out that the reason the Beach have been so good at both serving and passing is because of the competition in the gym.
“We do have a ton of weapons from the service line and that makes me completely freed up to rip my serves,” he said. “As a passer, we have great passing going and (it’s because) we have guys ripping 72/74 plus and we do well as passers handling that in practice. That pushes our servers more…and that just develops them even more.”
The Beach will try to keep the good times rolling as they host NJIT back in the Pyramid Friday and Saturday at 7pm.
