No. 3 Long Beach State Opens the 2023 Season against King, Lindenwood

Friday, January 13

Long Beach, Calif.

7:30 p.m.

Long Beach State University

King

Photo by: Nico Alba

No. 3 Long Beach State Opens the 2023 Season against King, Lindenwood

1/12/2023 1:49:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

The Beach host King on Friday at 7:30 and Lindenwood on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

No. 3 LONG BEACH STATE (0-0) vs. KING (0-2)
Date: Friday, Jan. 13
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Venue: Walter Pyramid
Live Stats: BeachLiveStats.com
Twitter: @LBSUMVB
Ticket Website: LongBeachState.com

No. 3 LONG BEACH STATE (0-0) vs. LINDENWOOD (1-2)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 14
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Venue: Walter Pyramid
Live Stats: BeachLiveStats.com
TV: ESPN+
TV Talent: Matt Brown & Tyler Kulakowski
Twitter: @LBSUMVB
Ticket Website: LongBeachState.com

COMPLETE LBSU MATCH NOTES (PDF)

No. 3 Long Beach State Opens the 2023 Season against King, Lindenwood
The No. 3 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team opens the 2023 season this weekend when they host King and Lindenwood at the Walter Pyramid. The Beach and King will face off on Friday, Jan. 13 at 7:30 p.m., before hosting Lindenwood on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m.

Catch All The Action
The Long Beach State-Lindenwood match will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Fans can sign up for ESPN+ for $5.99 per month ($59.99 per year) at ESPN.com, ESPNPluss.com, or on the ESPN App. It is also available as part of the Disney Bundle that gives subscribers access to Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu for $13.99 per month (Hulu with ads) or $19.99 per month (Hulu without ads). Fans can also follow stats updates for all home contests on BeachLiveStats.com.

Staying Social
Follow Long Beach State Men's Volleyball on Twitter and Instagram at @LBSUMVB. You can also stay up-to-date on all things Long Beach State by following @LBSUAthletics on Twitter. Be sure to "like" us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram at @LBSU. And don't forget our hashtag #GoBeach.

In the Rankings
• Long Beach State opens the season ranked No. 3 in the NVA/AVCA Division I-II Coaches Poll after finishing the 2022 season as the National Runner Up with a 21-6 overall record.
• This season, Long Beach State will face eight nationally ranked opponents in Hawaii (No. 1), UCLA (No. 2), Penn State (No. 4), Ball State (No. 6), UC Irvine (No. 7), UC Santa Barbara (No. 10), USC (No. 11), and Loyola Chicago (No. 12).
• Additionally, the Beach will face NJIT and CSUN, which are both receiving votes in the NVA/AVCA Coaches Poll.

About The Beach
• No. 3 Long Beach State opens the 2023 season after concluding the 2022 season with a 21-6 overall record.
• The Beach went 8-2 in Big West action a year ago, winning the 2022 regular season title, marking Long Beach State's fourth regular season championship in five seasons.
• In the preseason Big West Coaches Poll, LBSU was chosen to finish second. Long Beach State garnered 19 votes, coming in behind Hawaii which tallied 25 points and five first-place votes. UC Irvine placed third with 17 points and one first-place vote, while UC Santa Barbara (13 points), CSUN (10 points), and UC San Diego (6 points) rounded out the bottom half of the poll.
• Junior libero Mason Briggs was chosen to Big West Preseason Team. Briggs returns to the Beach after leading the Big West and ranking fifth in the country with 2.51 digs per set. The 2022 AVCA First Team All-American took home a slew of honors following his sophomore campaign including the LBSU Student-Athlete Pyramid Leadership Award, Big West All-First Team accolades, the Off the Block Erik Shoji Award, and the Off the Block Steve Shondell Award.
• Long Beach State returns 14 letterwinners to the court this season, after having lost two in Alex Nikolov and Marc Moody. Of the 14 returning letterwinners, LBSU brings back five starters.
• In addition, the Beach welcomes nine newcomers highlighted by sophomore outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis who transferred to Long Beach State from Ohio State, as well as Skyler Varga, a sophomore outside hitter who came to LBSU from the University of Saskatchewan.

Scouting King
• King University brings an 0-2 overall record into the week after having opened the season with a pair of straight set losses to Purdue Fort Wayne and Lewis on the road.
• The Tornado is coming off of a 2022 season in which they finished 17-12 overall with an 11-3 conference record en route to making it to the Conference Carolinas semifinals for the fifth straight season.
• Returning for the Tornado are junior outside hitter Warren Davis and senior outside hitter Jackson Carroll,
• This season, Davis is leading the team with 3.33 kills per set, while hitting .250 in three sets.
• In six sets, Kellan Kennedy is the squad's leading scorer with 15 kills to average 2.50 kills per set, while hitting .667 (15-1-21). He has also has posted two digs, two aces, two assists, and one block.
• At setter, Jack Sarnowski is averaging 7.67 assists per set and has paced the Tornado to a .124 attack percentage.

The Series: The Beach vs. The Tornado
Long Beach State and King will meet for the first time in program history.

Scouting Lindenwood
• Lindenwood is 1-2 coming into the match against Long Beach State.
• The Lions opened the season with a pair of losses at Grand Canyon by scores of 3-1 and 3-0.
• Lindenwood picked up its first win of the season on Wednesday, Jan. 11 against NJIT in straight sets.
• The Lions are looking to improve on a 2022 in which they finished 8-14 overall and 4-10 in the MIVA.
• This season, Lindenwood is led by AJ Lewis who is averaging 3.00 kills per set, while he also adds seven aces and averages 1.10 digs per set.
• Lindenwood's setter is Connor Sheehan who is averaging 10.60 assists per set. He has led the Lions to a .258 team hitting percentage.

The Series: The Beach vs. The Lions
Long Beach State and Lindenwood will meet for the fourth time in program history. In the all-time series, the Beach leads the series 3-0 as the Lions are looking for their first win over LBSU. In all three victories, the Beach swept the Lions. When playing each other at the Walter Pyramid, the Beach lead 1-0.

Preseason Honors
The Big West announced the 2023 Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll and All-Conference Team on Wednesday and Long Beach State was chosen to finish second, while junior libero Mason Briggs was named to the All-Conference Team.

The Beach garnered 19 points to come in second to preseason favorite Hawaii which earned 25 points and five first-place votes. Coming in third, was UC Irvine which collected 17 points and one first-place vote. Rounding out the bottom half of the Preseason Poll were UC Santa Barbara (13 points), CSUN (10 points) , and UC San Diego (6 points).

Briggs is coming off of an excellent sophomore season in which he earned AVCA First Team All-America accolades. The 2022 First-Team All-Big West selection led Long Beach State in digs with 254 to average 2.51 per set, which led the league and ranked him fifth in nation. In addition, Briggs garnered Off the Block's Erik Shoji and Steve Shondell Award, and took home the Long Beach State Student-Athlete Pyramid Leadership Award.

The product out of Valencia, Calif., led Long Beach State in digs 19 times last season, and recorded double-digit digs on 12 separate occasions. Briggs logged a career-high 19 digs at No. 7 Lewis on January 21, and registered a career-high seven assists twice. With Briggs' guidance, he helped lead the Beach to a National Runner Up showing at the NCAA National Championship.

Tune Up in the Great White North
Long Beach State traveled up to Hamilton, Ontario during the first week of the New Year to face one of Canada's top teams in the country in McMaster University. The Beach and the Marauders faced off in a pair of exhibition matches on Jan. 5 and 7, and the two teams battled each other through a pair of five-setters that saw LBSU come out victorious in both.

In the first match, the Beach hit .331 and dropped McMaster by set scores of 25-17, 23-25, 25-15, 19-25, 15-12. LBSU received solid showings from junior outside hitter Clarke Godbold and sophomore outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis. Godbold led the Beach with 17 kills, 11 digs, while Siapanis hit .310 and knocked down 13 kills to go along with 11 digs.

In the next match, Long Beach State battled back to earn a reverse sweep over McMaster by scores of 23-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 16-14. Once again, Siapanis and Godbold led the way with 18 and 12 kills, respectively. Sophomore outside hitter Skyler Varga came off the bench and added 11 kills.

Redshirt Junior setter Aidan Knipe led the Beach in both matches as he piloted LBSU to a .331 attack percentage in the first match and a .328 clip in the next. Knipe averaged 9.20 assists per set over the two contests.
Defensively, junior libero Mason Briggs totaled 35 digs over 10 sets to average 3.50 digs per set. He logged 21 digs in the Beach's final match against the Marauders.

LBSU Men's Volleyball Summer Wrap Up
Long Beach State had half a dozen players selected to the Men's Volleyball Nations League Roster. Current LBSU men's volleyball players Mason Briggs and Spencer Olivier joined alums TJ DeFalco, Kyle Ensing, and Josh Tuaniga on the USA roster, while Alex Nikolov was named to the Bulgarian National Team. The USA Men's National Team went on to earn a Silver Medal at the end of the summer. The quartet of DeFalco, Tuaniga, Ensing and Briggs will also competed at the USA World Championships in Italy.

Briggs and Olivier had a busy summer as they competed in Mexico with USA NORCECA and won a Bronze Medal. Briggs also took home the Best Tournament Receiver award. The libero from Valencia, Calif., continued his summer activities at the USA PanAm Cup in Canada where he led the squad to a Bronze Medal and was named Best Tournament Defender.

Sophomore outside hitter Dane Hillis and freshman libero Chris Connelly were invited to the USA U21 Team where they showcased their talents, while sophomore outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis was named to the Cyprus National Team.

On the beach, redshirt sophomore outside hitter Sebastian Rodriguez represented the USA College Beach National Team as he qualified for Cuba.

Coming Up...
Long Beach State will hit the road to take on Long Island and George Mason at the George Mason Tournament on Friday, Jan. 20 and Saturday, Jan. 21. The Beach and LIU will face off on Friday at 2 p.m. (PT), before closing out the tournament against host, GMU, on Saturday at 2 p.m. (PT).