Friday, January 20
Fairfax, Va.
2:00 p.m.
Long Beach State University
vs
Long Island
Photo by: ©John Fajardo Photography
No. 3 LBSU Men’s Volleyball to Compete in East/West Coast Challenge
1/19/2023 2:56:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
The Beach play Long Island and George Mason on Friday and Saturday, respectively, in Fairfax, Va.
#3 LONG BEACH STATE (2-0) vs. LONG ISLAND (2-1)
Date: Friday, Jan. 20
Time: 2:00 p.m. (PST) / 5:00 p.m. (EST)
Location: Fairfax, Va.
Venue: The RAC
Live Stats: GoMason.com
Twitter: @LBSUMVB
#3 LONG BEACH STATE (2-0) @ GEORGE MASON (0-2)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 21
Time: 2:00 p.m. (PST) / 5:00 p.m. (EST)
Location: Fairfax, Va.
Venue: The RAC
Live Stats: GoMason.com
TV: ESPN+
Twitter: @LBSUMVB
COMPLETE LBSU MATCH NOTES (PDF)
No. 3 LBSU Men's Volleyball to Compete in East/West Coast Challenge
The No. 3 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team heads to Fairfax, Va., to compete in the East/West Coast Challenge hosted by George Mason University. The Beach will open the tournament against Long Island on Friday, Jan. 20 at 2 p.m. (PST) / 5 p.m. (EST). LBSU will close the tournament against George Mason on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. (PST) / 5 p.m. (EST).
Catch All The Action
The Long Beach State-GMU match will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Fans can follow stats updates for the East/West Coast Challenge via GoMason.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 comes into the week ranked No. 3 in the NVA/AVCA Division I-II Coaches Poll after opening the 2023 season with a pair of sweeps over King and Lindenwood.
• 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), USC (No. 10), Loyola Chicago (No. 11), and UC Santa Barbara (No. 12).
• The Big West is one of the most competitive Division I Men's Volleyball conferences as four of the six Big West schools are nationally ranked in the Top 15.
About The Beach
• No. 3 Long Beach State brings a 2-0 record into the East/West Coast Challenge after having opened the 2023 season with a pair of sweeps over King and Lindenwood.
• The Beach lead The Big West in blocks per set (3.42), service aces per set (2.83), and opponent hitting percentage (.099). Their blocks per set average is also tops in the nation.
• Individually, Simon Torwie and Shane Holdaway lead the league in blocks per set with 1.33, while Mason Briggs sets the conference standard with 3.17 digs per set. Briggs' digs per set average is also good for second in the nation.
• After two matches, Spencer Olivier leads the Beach with 2.67 kills per set on a .452 attack percentage.
• Aidan Knipe is the squad's setter as he averages 9.17 assists per set to lead the Beach to a .377 clip.
• 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 reutning 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 Long Island
• Long Island comes into the East/West Coast Challenge with a 2-1 overall record.
• The Sharks, of the NEC, opened the year with a 3-0 sweep at Belmont Abbey followed by a four-set win at Queens (NC), before dropping a 3-1 decision at Limestone.
• As a team, LIU is hitting .306, while averaging 13.73 kills per set on 12.55 assists per set. On the defensive end, the Sharks average 9.45 digs per set, 2.23 blocks per set, and 1.82 aces per set.
• Gustavo Cavalcanti is the team's leading scorer with 3.73 kills per set on a .380 clip. He also adds 1.36 digs per set, 0.36 blocks per set, and 0.27 aces per set.
• Luca Hollanda is the Sharks' setter as he has dished out 10.27 assists per set to pilot the team to a .306 attack percentage. Additionally, Hollanda averages 1.82 digs per set, 0.36 kills per set, 0.36 blocks per set, and 0.27 aces per set on the year.
• Defensively, Danny Seliger has logged 24 digs in the backrow to average a team-leading 2.18 digs per set.
• At the net, Jordan Cooper leads the way with 10 blocks to average 1.00 blocks per set to go along with 1.60 kills per set while hitting .556. His seven aces are also tops on the team.
The Series: The Beach vs. The Sharks
Long Beach State and Long Island will meet for just the second time in program history. Last season, the two teams met for the first time and the Beach swept the Sharks by scores of 25-18, 25-14, 25-15 on March 5, 2022 at the Walter Pyramid.
Scouting George Mason
• George Mason brings an 0-2 overall record into the East/West Coast Challenge.
• The Patriots are looking for their first victory of the 2023 season after having dropped a 3-0 contest to Grand Canyon and 3-1 decision to Ohio State.
• George Mason is hitting just .142 on the year, while averaging 9.57 kills per set on 9.00 assists per set.
• On the defensive end, Mason is averaging 5.71 digs per set, 1.14 blocks per set, and 1.43 aces per set.
• Omar Hoyos is the Patriots leading scorer with 3.29 kills per set on a .176 clip. He also adds a team-best 1.43 digs per set on the year.
• The Patriots' setter is Georgi Zahariev who is averaging 6.71 assists per set to go along with 1.14 digs per set, 0.57 kills per set, and 0.57 blocks per set. He is hitting .364 on the season.
The Series: The Beach vs. The Patriots
Long Beach State and George Mason will face off for the eighth time in program history. The all-time series, which dates back to 1984, is led by the Beach 6-1. The Patriots earned the first win, 3-1, in 1984. But since then LBSU has won the next six contests. When playing each other in Fairfax, Va., the Beach leads 1-0, after having defeated the Patriots, 3-0, in their last meeting in 2018.
Milestone Watch
Mason Briggs is nearing a big milestone in his collegiate career as the junior libero has racked up 489 digs in his Long Beach State career. With just 11 more to hit 500 in his career, Briggs is poised to join Long Beach Legends Andrew Sato (979 career digs), Taylor Crabb (802 career digs), Dustin Watten (799 career digs), TJ DeFalco (773 career digs), Brent Hilliard (737 career digs), and Brett Winslow (708 career digs) who all rank in the Top 10 in the Long Beach State career record book.
Aces Wild
The Beach opened the 2023 season serving up seven aces against King, then followed that performance up with 10 aces against Lindenwood to average 2.83 aces per set on the year to lead The Big West and rank fourth in the nation. Leading the way at the service line for the Beach were Clarke Godbold and Sotiris Siapanis. Godbold is currently leading LBSU with seven aces to average 1.17 per set, which ranks him second in the league and fifth in the nation. He served up a career-high four aces against Lindenwood to lead the Beach to a 3-0 sweep. Siapanis also had a career-high against Lindenwood as he tallied five aces in the straight set win to bring his season average to 1.00 aces per set as he ranks third in conference and sixth in the country.
Block Party
Long Beach State started the year off hot on blocking defense as the Beach is averaging a nation-leading 2.83 blocks per set. LBSU put up 6.5 blocks in the season opener against King, then posted 14.0 against Lindenwood. Leading the Beach at the net this season is Shane Holdaway and Simon Torwie whose 1.33 blocks per set rank them seventh in the country and first in The Big West. In addition to Holdaway and Torwie, the Beach have four more players in The Big West Top 10 in Clarke Godbold (1.00), Sotiris Siapanis (1.00), Spencer Olivier (1.00), and Aidan Knipe (0.67) who are ranked third and ninth, respectively. The trio of Godbold, Siapanis, and Olivier also rank in the Top 20 in the country.
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 continues its road swing at No. 4 Penn State on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 4 p.m. (PST) / 7 p.m. (EST) in University Park, Pa. at Rec Hall, before returning home to host No. 11 Loyola Chicago at the Walter Pyramid on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.
Date: Friday, Jan. 20
Time: 2:00 p.m. (PST) / 5:00 p.m. (EST)
Location: Fairfax, Va.
Venue: The RAC
Live Stats: GoMason.com
Twitter: @LBSUMVB
#3 LONG BEACH STATE (2-0) @ GEORGE MASON (0-2)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 21
Time: 2:00 p.m. (PST) / 5:00 p.m. (EST)
Location: Fairfax, Va.
Venue: The RAC
Live Stats: GoMason.com
TV: ESPN+
Twitter: @LBSUMVB
COMPLETE LBSU MATCH NOTES (PDF)
No. 3 LBSU Men's Volleyball to Compete in East/West Coast Challenge
The No. 3 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team heads to Fairfax, Va., to compete in the East/West Coast Challenge hosted by George Mason University. The Beach will open the tournament against Long Island on Friday, Jan. 20 at 2 p.m. (PST) / 5 p.m. (EST). LBSU will close the tournament against George Mason on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. (PST) / 5 p.m. (EST).
Catch All The Action
The Long Beach State-GMU match will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Fans can follow stats updates for the East/West Coast Challenge via GoMason.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 comes into the week ranked No. 3 in the NVA/AVCA Division I-II Coaches Poll after opening the 2023 season with a pair of sweeps over King and Lindenwood.
• 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), USC (No. 10), Loyola Chicago (No. 11), and UC Santa Barbara (No. 12).
• The Big West is one of the most competitive Division I Men's Volleyball conferences as four of the six Big West schools are nationally ranked in the Top 15.
About The Beach
• No. 3 Long Beach State brings a 2-0 record into the East/West Coast Challenge after having opened the 2023 season with a pair of sweeps over King and Lindenwood.
• The Beach lead The Big West in blocks per set (3.42), service aces per set (2.83), and opponent hitting percentage (.099). Their blocks per set average is also tops in the nation.
• Individually, Simon Torwie and Shane Holdaway lead the league in blocks per set with 1.33, while Mason Briggs sets the conference standard with 3.17 digs per set. Briggs' digs per set average is also good for second in the nation.
• After two matches, Spencer Olivier leads the Beach with 2.67 kills per set on a .452 attack percentage.
• Aidan Knipe is the squad's setter as he averages 9.17 assists per set to lead the Beach to a .377 clip.
• 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 reutning 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 Long Island
• Long Island comes into the East/West Coast Challenge with a 2-1 overall record.
• The Sharks, of the NEC, opened the year with a 3-0 sweep at Belmont Abbey followed by a four-set win at Queens (NC), before dropping a 3-1 decision at Limestone.
• As a team, LIU is hitting .306, while averaging 13.73 kills per set on 12.55 assists per set. On the defensive end, the Sharks average 9.45 digs per set, 2.23 blocks per set, and 1.82 aces per set.
• Gustavo Cavalcanti is the team's leading scorer with 3.73 kills per set on a .380 clip. He also adds 1.36 digs per set, 0.36 blocks per set, and 0.27 aces per set.
• Luca Hollanda is the Sharks' setter as he has dished out 10.27 assists per set to pilot the team to a .306 attack percentage. Additionally, Hollanda averages 1.82 digs per set, 0.36 kills per set, 0.36 blocks per set, and 0.27 aces per set on the year.
• Defensively, Danny Seliger has logged 24 digs in the backrow to average a team-leading 2.18 digs per set.
• At the net, Jordan Cooper leads the way with 10 blocks to average 1.00 blocks per set to go along with 1.60 kills per set while hitting .556. His seven aces are also tops on the team.
The Series: The Beach vs. The Sharks
Long Beach State and Long Island will meet for just the second time in program history. Last season, the two teams met for the first time and the Beach swept the Sharks by scores of 25-18, 25-14, 25-15 on March 5, 2022 at the Walter Pyramid.
Scouting George Mason
• George Mason brings an 0-2 overall record into the East/West Coast Challenge.
• The Patriots are looking for their first victory of the 2023 season after having dropped a 3-0 contest to Grand Canyon and 3-1 decision to Ohio State.
• George Mason is hitting just .142 on the year, while averaging 9.57 kills per set on 9.00 assists per set.
• On the defensive end, Mason is averaging 5.71 digs per set, 1.14 blocks per set, and 1.43 aces per set.
• Omar Hoyos is the Patriots leading scorer with 3.29 kills per set on a .176 clip. He also adds a team-best 1.43 digs per set on the year.
• The Patriots' setter is Georgi Zahariev who is averaging 6.71 assists per set to go along with 1.14 digs per set, 0.57 kills per set, and 0.57 blocks per set. He is hitting .364 on the season.
The Series: The Beach vs. The Patriots
Long Beach State and George Mason will face off for the eighth time in program history. The all-time series, which dates back to 1984, is led by the Beach 6-1. The Patriots earned the first win, 3-1, in 1984. But since then LBSU has won the next six contests. When playing each other in Fairfax, Va., the Beach leads 1-0, after having defeated the Patriots, 3-0, in their last meeting in 2018.
Milestone Watch
Mason Briggs is nearing a big milestone in his collegiate career as the junior libero has racked up 489 digs in his Long Beach State career. With just 11 more to hit 500 in his career, Briggs is poised to join Long Beach Legends Andrew Sato (979 career digs), Taylor Crabb (802 career digs), Dustin Watten (799 career digs), TJ DeFalco (773 career digs), Brent Hilliard (737 career digs), and Brett Winslow (708 career digs) who all rank in the Top 10 in the Long Beach State career record book.
Aces Wild
The Beach opened the 2023 season serving up seven aces against King, then followed that performance up with 10 aces against Lindenwood to average 2.83 aces per set on the year to lead The Big West and rank fourth in the nation. Leading the way at the service line for the Beach were Clarke Godbold and Sotiris Siapanis. Godbold is currently leading LBSU with seven aces to average 1.17 per set, which ranks him second in the league and fifth in the nation. He served up a career-high four aces against Lindenwood to lead the Beach to a 3-0 sweep. Siapanis also had a career-high against Lindenwood as he tallied five aces in the straight set win to bring his season average to 1.00 aces per set as he ranks third in conference and sixth in the country.
Block Party
Long Beach State started the year off hot on blocking defense as the Beach is averaging a nation-leading 2.83 blocks per set. LBSU put up 6.5 blocks in the season opener against King, then posted 14.0 against Lindenwood. Leading the Beach at the net this season is Shane Holdaway and Simon Torwie whose 1.33 blocks per set rank them seventh in the country and first in The Big West. In addition to Holdaway and Torwie, the Beach have four more players in The Big West Top 10 in Clarke Godbold (1.00), Sotiris Siapanis (1.00), Spencer Olivier (1.00), and Aidan Knipe (0.67) who are ranked third and ninth, respectively. The trio of Godbold, Siapanis, and Olivier also rank in the Top 20 in the country.
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 continues its road swing at No. 4 Penn State on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 4 p.m. (PST) / 7 p.m. (EST) in University Park, Pa. at Rec Hall, before returning home to host No. 11 Loyola Chicago at the Walter Pyramid on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.
Hear what @LBSUMVB Head Coach Alan Knipe has to say about the team's season-opening weekend and their upcoming road matches on the East Coast #GoBeach #ExpectGreatness #LBNation #LBGRIT #LBWorldhttps://t.co/6IZBctx69O pic.twitter.com/X6jreFWUm4
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@LBSUMVB) January 16, 2023
Players Mentioned
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