The No. 3 Beach Pick up a Sweep at George Mason to Close out the East/West Coast Challenge

Saturday, January 21

Fairfax, Va.

2:00 p.m.

Long Beach State University

4-0,0-0Big West

George Mason

0-4,0-0EIVA

Long Beach St.

George Mason

Photo by: Kevin Lassel

The No. 3 Beach Pick up a Sweep at George Mason to Close out the East/West Coast Challenge

1/21/2023 8:14:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Long Beach State has now won four-straight matches to start the 2023 season

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Box Score (PDF)

FAIRFAX, Va. – The No. 3 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team swept through the East/West Coast Challenge extending their winning streak to four after downing host George Mason by scores of 25-17, 25-14, 25-16 on Saturday night at The RAC in Fairfax, Va.

The Beach (4-0) hit nearly .500 in the contest as redshirt junior setter Aidan Knipe led the team to a .486 clip. Long Beach State was also defensively solid as they did not commit a reception error and put up 10.0 total team blocks, while limiting the Patriots (0-4) to a .114 attack percentage.

Knipe distributed the ball well and collected 34 assists in the process, while adding three digs, and two block assists. With Knipe leading the way, Long Beach State is hitting an impressive .419 on the year.

Offensively, sophomore outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis led the Beach with a season-high 12 kills as he hit .545 (12-0-22) to go along with 16 errorless receptions, five digs, four block assists, one assist, and one ace.

Leading the Beach with a .714 attack percentage on the night was redshirt senior outside hitter Spencer Olivier who knocked down 10 kills on 14 errorless swings. Olivier picked up 12 perfect receptions and logged six digs in the match.

Junior libero Mason Briggs paced the Beach defense in the back court with 13 digs, marking his third-straight double-figure dig performance. He also registered six receptions without committing an error to lead LBSU to a perfect 1.000 receiving percentage.

Contributing to the Long Beach State blocking defense was junior middle blocker Simon Torwie who put up seven block assists, while junior opposite Clarke Godbold added five, and Siapanis contributed four.

Long Beach State and George Mason began the match exchanging points early on in the first set. A kill from redshirt senior middle blocker Shane Holdaway broke a 4-4 tie that would put the Beach up for good. LBSU got a big block from Torwie and Godbold as the went up 11-7 forcing the Patriots to call a timeout. After another key block from Shane Holdaway and Knipe at 17-10, George Mason utilized their final timeout. The Beach continued to surge as they hit .417 in the frame and took the first set, 25-17.

The second set was much like the first, as the two teams traded points back and forth in the early part of the game. Torwie's kill put LBSU on top 8-7 and from there the Beach jumped out in front 13-9 as GMU called for a break in action. The Patriots needed another timeout after Siapanis drilled a kill down to give LBSU a 19-12 advantage. Following the stoppage, Long Beach State came out and closed things down with a kill from Olivier, 25-14, as the Beach hit a hit .625 (15-0-24) in the game.

The third set saw seven ties, but Long Beach State never trailed throughout the set. The Beach took a three-point (15-12) edge after a block by Torwie and Godbold to send the game into the media timeout. The Beach continued to add to their lead and took a 19-13 lead over the Patriots after a Godbold kill which led to a GMU timeout. Coming out of the break, the Beach brought in redshirt senior Grant Marocchi and sophomore middle blocker DiAeris McRaven, who made his LBSU debut at the service line. Marocchi would knock down a back-to-back kills to win the game and match for the Beach, 25-16.

Liam French and Jack Bolz led the way for George Mason with eight kills apiece. French also added seven digs and a block assist, while Bolz logged three digs. Georgi Zahariev recorded 24 assists, while Omar Hoyos contributed eight digs.

Long Beach State will continue its road trip as they head to University Park, Pa., to take on No. 4 Penn State on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 4 p.m. (PST)/7 p.m. (EST).