Thursday, March 10
Irvine, Calif.
7:00 PM
Long Beach State University
10-3,0-1Big West
2
at
3
UC Irvine
7-8,1-0Big West
1
2
3
4
5
F
Long Beach St.
25
25
17
22
12
2
UC Irvine
19
23
25
25
15
3
Photo by: John Fajardo
No. 2 Long Beach State Suffers Five Set Loss at UC Irvine
3/10/2022 10:15:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
Spencer Olivier and Alex Nikolov lead the Beach with 18 kills apiece in the conference opener
Box Score (PDF)
IRVINE, Calif. – The No. 2 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team opened Big West Conference action on the road at UC Irvine and dropped a 3-2 [25-19, 25-23, 17-25, 22-25, 12-15] decision on Thursday night at the Bren Events Center.
The Beach (10-3, 0-1 Big West) took a 2-0 set lead over the Anteaters (7-8, 1-0 Big West), but were unable to hold on as UC Irvine came back. The loss marks LBSU's first setback against UCI since 2015 as the Beach had won 11-straight contests against the Anteaters coming into today's match.
Long Beach State opened the match hitting .400 in the first set and kept UC Irvine off balance as the Anteaters hit just .043 in the frame. The Beach went on a 5-0 run in the first set as Calvin Sanborn led the way from the service line. Alex Nikolov got the run started with back-to-back kills, and from there LBSU put the game away, 25-19, on a kill from Grant Marocchi.
LBSU took a quick 2-0 lead in the second set and went up 12-9 on a triple block from Clarke Godbold, Marocchi, and Nikolov which forced a UCI timeout. Following the break in action, the Beach continue to extend their lead and after back-to-back kills off the hand of Nikolov held a 20-14 advantage. UC Irvine would not go away and managed to make it a one-point game (22-21) before Long Beach came away with the 25-23 victory.
Leading two sets to none, Long Beach State went cold. The Beach hit just .043 in the third set and UC Irvine took a 3-2 lead over the Beach and never looked back. The Anteaters hit .421 in the game and defeated the Beach, 25-17.
The fourth set saw the conference foes battle it out through six tied and one lead change. Both teams were hot-hitting as LBSU hit .458 and UCI hit .519 in the frame. After a kill from Spencer Olivier evened the score at 14-all, UC Irvine knocked down three-straight points to take a 17-14 edge. The Beach called a timeout, but it did not stop the Anteaters as they held the lead the rest of the way before winning, 25-22, to force a fifth set.
The fifth set was also a battle, but UC Irvine managed to out-hit Long Beach State .227 to .000 as the Beach committed six attack errors in the frame. Long Beach led early, but Irvine stayed closed and the two teams found themselves deadlocked at 10-10. The Anteaters pushed it to match point, 14-12, and put the game away on a kill from Cole Gillis, as the Beach fell in five.
Nikolov and Olivier led the Beach with 18 kills each. Olivier hit .366 with five blocks, two digs, one ace, and one assist, while Nikolov hit .306 while adding four digs, four assists, three blocks, and three aces.
Godbold also finished the match with double-digit kills as the sophomore opposite posted 11 on a .240 clip. He contributed six digs, five blocks, and one assists on the night.
Sophomore setter Aidan Knipe dished out 40 assists as the Beach hit .269 in the match. Knipe added four digs, one block, and one kill in the match.
Defensively, sophomore libero Mason Briggs concluded the match with nine digs, while Marocchi led the Beach at the net with six blocks.
LBSU out-hit UCI .269 to .268 and out-blocked the Anteaters 12.0 to 8.5. However Irvine held the edge in the serve and pass game with 12 aces to the Beach's 5 and 36 digs to LBSU's 27.
Gillis led a trio of double-figure scorers for UC Irvine with 18 kills on a .364 attack percentage. Hilir Henno added 17 kills and six aces, while Francesco Sani added 13. Patrick Vorenkamp logged 49 assists, nine digs, and three aces. Connor Campbell and Doug Dahm led the team at the net with four blocks each.
Long Beach State and UC Irvine will face off again on Friday, March 11 at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
IRVINE, Calif. – The No. 2 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team opened Big West Conference action on the road at UC Irvine and dropped a 3-2 [25-19, 25-23, 17-25, 22-25, 12-15] decision on Thursday night at the Bren Events Center.
The Beach (10-3, 0-1 Big West) took a 2-0 set lead over the Anteaters (7-8, 1-0 Big West), but were unable to hold on as UC Irvine came back. The loss marks LBSU's first setback against UCI since 2015 as the Beach had won 11-straight contests against the Anteaters coming into today's match.
Long Beach State opened the match hitting .400 in the first set and kept UC Irvine off balance as the Anteaters hit just .043 in the frame. The Beach went on a 5-0 run in the first set as Calvin Sanborn led the way from the service line. Alex Nikolov got the run started with back-to-back kills, and from there LBSU put the game away, 25-19, on a kill from Grant Marocchi.
LBSU took a quick 2-0 lead in the second set and went up 12-9 on a triple block from Clarke Godbold, Marocchi, and Nikolov which forced a UCI timeout. Following the break in action, the Beach continue to extend their lead and after back-to-back kills off the hand of Nikolov held a 20-14 advantage. UC Irvine would not go away and managed to make it a one-point game (22-21) before Long Beach came away with the 25-23 victory.
Leading two sets to none, Long Beach State went cold. The Beach hit just .043 in the third set and UC Irvine took a 3-2 lead over the Beach and never looked back. The Anteaters hit .421 in the game and defeated the Beach, 25-17.
The fourth set saw the conference foes battle it out through six tied and one lead change. Both teams were hot-hitting as LBSU hit .458 and UCI hit .519 in the frame. After a kill from Spencer Olivier evened the score at 14-all, UC Irvine knocked down three-straight points to take a 17-14 edge. The Beach called a timeout, but it did not stop the Anteaters as they held the lead the rest of the way before winning, 25-22, to force a fifth set.
The fifth set was also a battle, but UC Irvine managed to out-hit Long Beach State .227 to .000 as the Beach committed six attack errors in the frame. Long Beach led early, but Irvine stayed closed and the two teams found themselves deadlocked at 10-10. The Anteaters pushed it to match point, 14-12, and put the game away on a kill from Cole Gillis, as the Beach fell in five.
Nikolov and Olivier led the Beach with 18 kills each. Olivier hit .366 with five blocks, two digs, one ace, and one assist, while Nikolov hit .306 while adding four digs, four assists, three blocks, and three aces.
Godbold also finished the match with double-digit kills as the sophomore opposite posted 11 on a .240 clip. He contributed six digs, five blocks, and one assists on the night.
Sophomore setter Aidan Knipe dished out 40 assists as the Beach hit .269 in the match. Knipe added four digs, one block, and one kill in the match.
Defensively, sophomore libero Mason Briggs concluded the match with nine digs, while Marocchi led the Beach at the net with six blocks.
LBSU out-hit UCI .269 to .268 and out-blocked the Anteaters 12.0 to 8.5. However Irvine held the edge in the serve and pass game with 12 aces to the Beach's 5 and 36 digs to LBSU's 27.
Gillis led a trio of double-figure scorers for UC Irvine with 18 kills on a .364 attack percentage. Hilir Henno added 17 kills and six aces, while Francesco Sani added 13. Patrick Vorenkamp logged 49 assists, nine digs, and three aces. Connor Campbell and Doug Dahm led the team at the net with four blocks each.
Long Beach State and UC Irvine will face off again on Friday, March 11 at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
Team Stats
LBSU
Irvine
Kills
52
58
Errors
20
25
Attempts
119
123
Hitting %
.269
.268
Points
69
78.5
Assists
49
57
Aces
5
12
Blocks
12
8.5
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
18
Aces
1
Blocks
5
Kills
18
Aces
3
Blocks
3
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
5
Kills
2
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
L
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's Volleyball
S
/ Men's Volleyball
MB
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
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