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 looked every bit the No. 1 team in the nation on Friday night in the Big West Tournament semifinals out in Hawaii. On a night that saw No. 2 UCLA fall in the MPSF Tournament semifinals and No. 3 and 4 UC Irvine and Hawaii locked in a tight match, the Beach absolutely cruised to a sweep win over UC San Diego, their third straight. The Beach led nearly wire to wire in a 25-18, 25-23, 25-17 win.
With the victory, Long Beach State (27-2) all but clinches at least an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament in Ohio in two weeks. The Beach could make it official Saturday night as they’ll face the winner of the Anteaters’ match with the host Rainbow Warriors in the Big West championship Saturday at 10 p.m. Long Beach time on ESPN+
“We beat a really good team, I’m really proud of them,” said LBSU coach Alan Knipe after the match. “It wasn’t always clean, that’s alright. This time of year you just have to score more and move on.”
The Beach dominated the match Friday, which was their third straight win over the Tritons after sweeping them in their final two matches of the regular season. The Beach outhit UCSD .400 to .253 in the match, as freshman Moni Nikolov once again put on a show running the offense. Nikolov had four aces to bring his season total to 90 aces, a new Big West record for a single season. Nikolov also had four kills on .800 hitting, five digs, a block, and 35 assists.
“Getting out of there in three (is important), if you’re going to be the top seed you want to take advantage of that,” said Knipe. “It’s a sign of a team that’s really growing when it comes to their volleyball IQ.”
The Beach got 14 kills from Alex Kandev on .600 hitting, seven from Skyler Varga (.545), and eight from Nato Dickinson opposite, although he hit a negative number and had nine of the team’s 13 hitting errors. The Beach had a strong service night with six aces and 10 service errors.
Varga said that the team’s trip to Hawaii a few weeks ago was one of the best atmospheres he’s ever played in.
“I can’t say that I’m rooting for one team but I hope it’s another great atmosphere,” he said.
