Friday, February 25
Long Beach, Calif.
7:00 PM
Long Beach State University
8-2,0-0Big West
3
vs
0
Stanford
8-4,0-0MPSF
1
2
3
F
Stanford
19
22
18
0
Long Beach St.
25
25
25
3
Photo by: John Fajardo
No. 2 Long Beach State Men’s Volleyball Sweeps No. 12 Stanford
2/25/2022 10:37:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
Alex Nikolov leads the way with nine kills and five aces, while Mason Briggs logged nine digs, and Grant Marocchi posted four blocks and four kills in the straight set win
Box Score (PDF)
LONG BEACH, Calif. – The No. 2 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team earned a 3-0 [25-19, 25-22, 25-18] sweep of No. 12 Stanford on Friday night at the Walter Pyramid.
The Beach (8-2) posted nine total team blocks and served up seven service aces as they defeated the Cardinal (8-4) in straight sets. LBSU hit .202 in the match, while holding Stanford to a .170 attack percentage.
After a few early ties in the first set, Long Beach rattled off three straight kills from Spencer Olivier, Shane Holdaway and Clarke Godbold to jump out in front 7-4. From there, the Beach extended their lead to five forcing Stanford to call a timeout. The Cardinal managed to cut the Beach's lead down to two (17-15), but the Beach went back up by six (24-18) on a block from Holdaway and Olivier to send it to set point before winning 25-19.
The second set began with seven ties before Stanford used a 5-0 run to take a 14-10 lead over the Beach. From there, the Cardinal went up 22-18 as the game looked to be going the visitor's way. However, a kill from Grant Marocchi gave LBSU the sideout as Nikolov went to the endline and served up five-straight aces to turn a three-point deficit (22-19) into a two-point lead (24-22). Even with two Stanford timeouts, Nikolov was unfazed and continued to serve up aces as the Beach held set point before a block from Godbold and Marocchi capped a 7-0 Long Beach State run as LBSU won, 25-22, and took a 2-0 set lead over the Cardinal.
Nathan Harlan earned the start in the third set and made the most of his appearance off the bench as he tallied four kills on a .333 attack percentage, while adding four digs, two blocks, and an ace. With Harlan in the game, the Beach went on a 5-1 run to open up an 18-13 lead over Stanford. The Cardinal trimmed the Beach's lead down to two (18-16), but LBSU quickly went back up by five (21-16) forcing Stanford to utilize its final timeout. The break in action did not stop the Beach as they came out and completed the sweep on a kill from Harlan.
Nikolov led all scorers with nine kills, while adding five aces, three digs, and a solo block. Godbold added six kills, while Harlan and Marocchi each had four. Marocchi also led the squad with four blocks, while sophomore libero Mason Briggs anchored the defense with nine digs. Sophomore setter Aidan Knipe dished out 24 assists, while also contributing eight digs, and two blocks.
Stanford was led by Will Rottman's 12 kills, while setter Nathan Lietzke posted 31 assists, and Justin Lui logged 16 digs.
Long Beach State will be back in action next weekend at the Walter Pyramid when they host NJIT on Friday, March 4 at 7 p.m., before welcoming Long Island University on Saturday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m.
LONG BEACH, Calif. – The No. 2 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team earned a 3-0 [25-19, 25-22, 25-18] sweep of No. 12 Stanford on Friday night at the Walter Pyramid.
The Beach (8-2) posted nine total team blocks and served up seven service aces as they defeated the Cardinal (8-4) in straight sets. LBSU hit .202 in the match, while holding Stanford to a .170 attack percentage.
After a few early ties in the first set, Long Beach rattled off three straight kills from Spencer Olivier, Shane Holdaway and Clarke Godbold to jump out in front 7-4. From there, the Beach extended their lead to five forcing Stanford to call a timeout. The Cardinal managed to cut the Beach's lead down to two (17-15), but the Beach went back up by six (24-18) on a block from Holdaway and Olivier to send it to set point before winning 25-19.
The second set began with seven ties before Stanford used a 5-0 run to take a 14-10 lead over the Beach. From there, the Cardinal went up 22-18 as the game looked to be going the visitor's way. However, a kill from Grant Marocchi gave LBSU the sideout as Nikolov went to the endline and served up five-straight aces to turn a three-point deficit (22-19) into a two-point lead (24-22). Even with two Stanford timeouts, Nikolov was unfazed and continued to serve up aces as the Beach held set point before a block from Godbold and Marocchi capped a 7-0 Long Beach State run as LBSU won, 25-22, and took a 2-0 set lead over the Cardinal.
Alex Nikolov served up 5? service aces in a row!!! ??Check out the final two ?????????? #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/5fD6OxAWzw
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) February 26, 2022
Nathan Harlan earned the start in the third set and made the most of his appearance off the bench as he tallied four kills on a .333 attack percentage, while adding four digs, two blocks, and an ace. With Harlan in the game, the Beach went on a 5-1 run to open up an 18-13 lead over Stanford. The Cardinal trimmed the Beach's lead down to two (18-16), but LBSU quickly went back up by five (21-16) forcing Stanford to utilize its final timeout. The break in action did not stop the Beach as they came out and completed the sweep on a kill from Harlan.
A BIG kill from Nathan Harlan gives @lbsumvb a 25-28 set 3 win over #12 Stanford as the Beach completes the sweep! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/MUajThU9Uc
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) February 26, 2022
Nikolov led all scorers with nine kills, while adding five aces, three digs, and a solo block. Godbold added six kills, while Harlan and Marocchi each had four. Marocchi also led the squad with four blocks, while sophomore libero Mason Briggs anchored the defense with nine digs. Sophomore setter Aidan Knipe dished out 24 assists, while also contributing eight digs, and two blocks.
Stanford was led by Will Rottman's 12 kills, while setter Nathan Lietzke posted 31 assists, and Justin Lui logged 16 digs.
Long Beach State will be back in action next weekend at the Walter Pyramid when they host NJIT on Friday, March 4 at 7 p.m., before welcoming Long Island University on Saturday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Hear what @LBSUMVB Head Coach Alan Knipe, freshman outside hitter Alex Nikolov, and sophomore outside hitter Nathan Harlan had to say about the Beach's sweep of Stanford #GoBeach https://t.co/ffm5tp15H7
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) February 26, 2022
Team Stats
Stan
LBSU
Kills
35
29
Errors
18
12
Attempts
100
84
Hitting %
.170
.202
Points
40
45
Assists
34
28
Aces
1
7
Blocks
4
9
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
9
Aces
5
Blocks
1
Kills
6
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
4
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
L
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
MB
/ Men's Volleyball
S
/ Men's Volleyball
MB
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
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