Saturday, April 9
La Jolla, Calif.
7:00 PM
Long Beach State University
17-4,6-2Big West
2
at
3
UC San Diego
13-9,5-4Big West
1
2
3
4
5
F
Long Beach St.
25
19
20
25
12
2
UC San Diego
16
25
25
21
15
3
Photo by: John Fajardo
No. 2 Long Beach State Drops a Five-Set Battle at No. 10 UC San Diego
4/9/2022 9:58:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
Alex Nikolov serves up a career-high six aces to go along with 17 kills, eight digs, and four blocks
Box Score (PDF)
LA JOLLA, Calif. – The No. 2 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team dropped a hard-fought five-set [25-16, 19-25, 20-25, 25-21, 12-15] contest to No. 10 UC San Diego on Saturday night at RIMAC Arena.
The loss snapped a seven-match winning streak for the Beach as LBSU moves to 17-4 overall and 6-2 in Big West action heading into the final week of the regular season. Meanwhile, the Tritons improve to 13-9 on the year and 5-4 in league play.
The Beach started off strong, taking the first set by a convincing score of 25-16. However, the Tritons came back and won the next two sets to take a 2-1 edge. Long Beach State battled back and won the fourth set, 25-21 to force a fifth set, and despite taking an early lead (5-2), ultimately fell to UC San Diego.
The Tritons out-hit the Beach .331 to .276, marking just the sixth time this season Long Beach has hit below .300. LBSU led in blocking defense with another strong night at the net as the Beach put up 13.0 total team blocks, while serving up 11 aces on the night.
Freshman outside hitter Alex Nikolov led the Beach with 17 kills on a .324 attack percentage to go along with eight digs, a career-high six aces, and four blocks. With his six aces in the match, Nikolov is now tied for third in the LBSU record book for most service aces in a single match.
Nikolov led a trio of players in double-digits as Spencer Olivier added 16 kills, while Godbold added 11.
Sophomore setter Aidan Knipe finished the match with 47 assists, seven digs, two blocks, and an ace, while sophomore libero Mason Briggs concluded the contest with eight digs and one assist.
In the middle, Simon Torwie and Grant Marocchi got the start and Torwie tied his career-high with eight blocks. Marocchi knocked down four kills on five errorless swings to hit .800, while adding three blocks.
Long Beach State got things going right off the bat as the Beach hit .300 in the first set, while holding the Tritons to a .107 attack percentage. After an early kill from UCSD, LBSU scored three-straight points to take a 3-1 lead it would not relinquish as LBSU opened up a 10-point lead (21-11) in the first set. The Tritons managed to make it a seven-point game (23-15), but the Beach surged back up ahead and claimed the opening set, 25-16.
UC San Diego bounced back in the second set and quickly took a 4-1 lead over Long Beach State. However, the Beach would stay close and take an 11-8 lead before the Tritons' used a 4-0 run to go up 14-12. Despite LBSU tying it up at 14-all, UCSD went back up 16-14 and led the rest of the way, winning 25-19.
With the match tied at one set apiece, UC San Diego came out strong and took a quick 3-0 lead. The Beach battled and despite trailing 11-6, managed to come back and even the game at 17-all after an ace serve from Calvin Sanborn. However, the Tritons would go back up 21-18, forcing a Beach timeout, before claiming the third set, 25-20.
Down two sets to one, Long Beach State took an early 3-1 lead to start the fourth set. After UC San Diego evened things up, 5-5, the Beach went on a 5-0 run to jump out in front 12-7. Long Beach State held the lead the rest of the way, but the Tritons stayed within striking distance. UCSD closed the gap and made it a one-point game (21-20), but the Beach kept their composure and pushed it to set point twice, before winning, 25-21, on a kill from Grant Marocchi.
Long Beach State started the fifth set off on a 4-0 run to take an early 5-2 lead thanks to back-to-back aces from Nikolov. After a UCSD timeout, the Tritons seemed to find their groove as they battled back and evened the score at 7-all forcing a Long Beach State timeout. From there, UC San Diego broke an 11-11 tie as the Tritons led 13-11 as the Beach utilized their final timeout. Following the break in action, the Tritons came out and finished things off, 15-12.
UC San Diego was led by Kyle McCauley who had 17 kills and five aces, while Ryan Ka added 14 kills, and Shane Benetz contributed 12 to go along with eight blocks. Setter Blake Crisp dished out 38 assists to go along with nine digs.
Long Beach State will be back in action on Friday, April 15 when the Beach host CSUN at the Walter Pyramid at 7 p.m. The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
LA JOLLA, Calif. – The No. 2 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team dropped a hard-fought five-set [25-16, 19-25, 20-25, 25-21, 12-15] contest to No. 10 UC San Diego on Saturday night at RIMAC Arena.
The loss snapped a seven-match winning streak for the Beach as LBSU moves to 17-4 overall and 6-2 in Big West action heading into the final week of the regular season. Meanwhile, the Tritons improve to 13-9 on the year and 5-4 in league play.
The Beach started off strong, taking the first set by a convincing score of 25-16. However, the Tritons came back and won the next two sets to take a 2-1 edge. Long Beach State battled back and won the fourth set, 25-21 to force a fifth set, and despite taking an early lead (5-2), ultimately fell to UC San Diego.
The Tritons out-hit the Beach .331 to .276, marking just the sixth time this season Long Beach has hit below .300. LBSU led in blocking defense with another strong night at the net as the Beach put up 13.0 total team blocks, while serving up 11 aces on the night.
Freshman outside hitter Alex Nikolov led the Beach with 17 kills on a .324 attack percentage to go along with eight digs, a career-high six aces, and four blocks. With his six aces in the match, Nikolov is now tied for third in the LBSU record book for most service aces in a single match.
Count 'em up! That's a new career-high6? aces for Alex Nikolov! ???????????? #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/L0HRNNXYPY
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) April 10, 2022
Nikolov led a trio of players in double-digits as Spencer Olivier added 16 kills, while Godbold added 11.
Sophomore setter Aidan Knipe finished the match with 47 assists, seven digs, two blocks, and an ace, while sophomore libero Mason Briggs concluded the contest with eight digs and one assist.
In the middle, Simon Torwie and Grant Marocchi got the start and Torwie tied his career-high with eight blocks. Marocchi knocked down four kills on five errorless swings to hit .800, while adding three blocks.
Long Beach State got things going right off the bat as the Beach hit .300 in the first set, while holding the Tritons to a .107 attack percentage. After an early kill from UCSD, LBSU scored three-straight points to take a 3-1 lead it would not relinquish as LBSU opened up a 10-point lead (21-11) in the first set. The Tritons managed to make it a seven-point game (23-15), but the Beach surged back up ahead and claimed the opening set, 25-16.
UC San Diego bounced back in the second set and quickly took a 4-1 lead over Long Beach State. However, the Beach would stay close and take an 11-8 lead before the Tritons' used a 4-0 run to go up 14-12. Despite LBSU tying it up at 14-all, UCSD went back up 16-14 and led the rest of the way, winning 25-19.
With the match tied at one set apiece, UC San Diego came out strong and took a quick 3-0 lead. The Beach battled and despite trailing 11-6, managed to come back and even the game at 17-all after an ace serve from Calvin Sanborn. However, the Tritons would go back up 21-18, forcing a Beach timeout, before claiming the third set, 25-20.
Down two sets to one, Long Beach State took an early 3-1 lead to start the fourth set. After UC San Diego evened things up, 5-5, the Beach went on a 5-0 run to jump out in front 12-7. Long Beach State held the lead the rest of the way, but the Tritons stayed within striking distance. UCSD closed the gap and made it a one-point game (21-20), but the Beach kept their composure and pushed it to set point twice, before winning, 25-21, on a kill from Grant Marocchi.
Grant Marocchi finishes off the fourth set with a kill as @lbsumvb defeats UC San Diego, 25-21, to force a fifth set #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/okf4YLSaH7
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) April 10, 2022
Long Beach State started the fifth set off on a 4-0 run to take an early 5-2 lead thanks to back-to-back aces from Nikolov. After a UCSD timeout, the Tritons seemed to find their groove as they battled back and evened the score at 7-all forcing a Long Beach State timeout. From there, UC San Diego broke an 11-11 tie as the Tritons led 13-11 as the Beach utilized their final timeout. Following the break in action, the Tritons came out and finished things off, 15-12.
UC San Diego was led by Kyle McCauley who had 17 kills and five aces, while Ryan Ka added 14 kills, and Shane Benetz contributed 12 to go along with eight blocks. Setter Blake Crisp dished out 38 assists to go along with nine digs.
Long Beach State will be back in action on Friday, April 15 when the Beach host CSUN at the Walter Pyramid at 7 p.m. The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
Team Stats
LBSU
UCSD
Kills
53
64
Errors
19
22
Attempts
123
127
Hitting %
.276
.331
Points
77
80.5
Assists
49
59
Aces
11
7
Blocks
13
9.5
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
17
Aces
6
Blocks
4
Kills
16
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
4
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
L
/ Men's Volleyball
S
/ Men's Volleyball
MB
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
OH/OPP
/ Men's Volleyball
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