No. 5 Long Beach State Men’s Volleyball Downs No. 9 Penn State

Friday, February 7

Columbus, Ohio

1:30 PM

Long Beach State University

6-1

Penn State

4-5

Long Beach State

Penn State

Photo by: John Fajardo

No. 5 Long Beach State Men’s Volleyball Downs No. 9 Penn State

2/7/2020 6:04:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Long Beach State hit .346 behind a solid showing by junior setter Carlos Rivera

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Box Score (PDF)

COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a battle of the Big West vs. the Big Ten, No. 5 Long Beach State came out victorious over No. 9 Penn State as the Beach claimed a 3-1 win [24-26, 26-24, 25-19, 25-19] over the Nittany Lions on Friday at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio.

After dropping the first set, Long Beach State (6-1) came back and won the next three to hand Penn State (5-4) its third straight loss.

The Beach boasted a .346 attack percentage as they were paced by junior setter Carlos Rivera who dished out 38 assists in the balanced offensive showing. LBSU had three players in double figures as junior outside hitter Ethan Siegfried led the way with 12 kills on 25 errorless swings to hit .480 in the contest. Junior opposite Simon Andersen tallied 11 kills in the win, while sophomore middle blocker Shane Holdaway added 10, while hitting a team-best .667 (10-0-15).

While everything was clicking for the offense, the defense also turned in a stout performance. Freshman libero Mason Briggs anchored the back court with nine digs, while adding two assists. Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore middle blocker Marc Moody led the team at the net with six blocks. Holdaway added four, while Seigfried and Ryan Poole each recorded three.

Both teams got off to a slow start as Penn State hit .176 in the first set and Long Beach State posted a .143 clip. Despite the offensive struggles, the Beach and the Nittany Lions kept things interesting as they battled through 13 ties. LBSU took it to set point, 24-23, but Penn State closed the set with three straight points to win, 26-24.

After dropping a close opening game, the Beach came back in the second set and hit .500 as they knocked down 12 kills on 22 swings with just one error. The LBSU defense kept Penn State off balance as the Nittany Lions mustered a .121 attack percentage in the frame. Despite the difference on paper, the second set was just as close as the first. The Beach and the Nittany Lions exchanged leads seven times and fought each other through 15 ties. Long Beach State pushed it to set point, 24-22, but Penn State battled back to even the game at 24-all, before the Beach took the set 26-24 to even the match at one set apiece.

Following two closely contested sets, Long Beach State ran away with the third set as the Beach opened the game on a 3-0 run and never looked back. LBSU led the entire frame as the Beach hit .367 to Penn State's .250. Long Beach State went on a 5-0 run to break the game open 11-4 and held a comfortable lead from there. The closest the Nittany Lions got was making it a three-point game (18-15), but the Beach extended their lead back up to five on a kill by Siegfried before winning 25-19.

Leading two sets to one, Long Beach State seemed to have found its groove as the Beach had another solid set hitting .500 (11-1-20), while the Nittany Lions hit .286 (14-6-28). Following a 1-1 tie, Long Beach State used a kill by Siegfried to take a 2-1 lead and, once again, held the lead for the remainder of the game. The Beach extended their lead to five (20-15) after a 5-1 run forced a Penn State timeout. After the break in action, Long Beach State continued to surge ahead and took the fourth set by a score of 25-19.

Penn State was led by Brett Wildman's 15 kills, while Calvin Mende and Henrik Falck Lauten each added 10 of their. Mende and Falck Lauten each recorded a double-double as Mended posted 13 digs, while Falck Lauten added 10. Setter Cole Bogner also notched a double-double for the Nittany Lions as he finished the match with 40 assists and 10 digs.

Long Beach State will continue action at the Ohio State Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 8 when the Beach go head-to-head with the host Buckeyes at 4 p.m. (PT).