No. 3 Long Beach State Faces Road Test at No. 4 Penn State

#3 LONG BEACH STATE (4-0) @ #4 PENN STATE (6-0)
Date: Wednesday, Jan. 25
Time: 4:00 p.m. (PST) | 7:00 p.m. (EST)
Location: University Park, Pa.
Venue: Rec Hall
Live Stats: StatBroadcast.com
TV: B1G+
Twitter: @LBSUMVB

COMPLETE LBSU MATCH NOTES (PDF)

No. 3 Long Beach State Faces Road Test at No. 4 Penn State
The No. 3 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team will face their first nationally ranked opponent of the season in No. 4 Penn State. The Beach and the Nittany Lions will meet on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 4 p.m. (PST)/7 p.m. (EST) at Rec Hall in University Park, Pa.

Catch All The Action
The Long Beach State-Penn State match will be broadcast live on B1G+ with a subscription. Fans can follow stats updates via StatBroadcast.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 winning four-straight contests.
• This season, Long Beach State will face eight nationally ranked opponents in Hawaii (No. 1), UCLA (No. 2), Penn State (No. 4), UC Irvine (No. 6), Ball State (No. 8), USC (No. 10), Loyola Chicago (No. 11), and UC Santa Barbara (No. 14).
• 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, while CSUN is receiving votes.

About The Beach
• No. 3 Long Beach State brings a 4-0 record into the match at No. 4 Penn State.
• The Beach are currently on a four-match winning streak after having opened the season with four-straight sweeps.
• LBSU has opened the 2023 season strong as the Beach lead the nation in hitting percentage (.419), opponent hitting percentage (.079), blocks per set (3.21), and aces per set (2.75).
• Leading the way for Long Beach State is sophomore outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis who served up a career-high eight aces against Long Island last week. With his solid serving, Siapanis now averages a nation-leading 1.25 aces per set. He also adds a team-high 4.75 points per set, which is good for seventh in the country.
• Redshirt senior outside hitter Spencer Olivier leads the Beach with a .550 attack percentage to rank second in the NCAA. He, along with Siapanis, lead the team with 3.00 kills per set.
• Aidan Knipe is Long Beach State's setter as he averages 9.08 assists per set to rank in the Top 25 in the nation. Knipe's solid passing has led the the Beach's hot hitting of .419, which leads the NCAA.
• Defensively, Long Beach State is led by junior libero Mason Briggs whose 3.67 digs per set lead the country. With 12 digs against Long Island, Briggs recorded his 500th career dig. He is now 19th in Long Beach State history with 514.
• At the net, junior middle blocker Simon Torwie has been unstoppable with 1.75 blocks per set as he comes in second in the nation.
• Junior opposite Clarke Godbold also ranks in the Top 10 in the country with 1.25 blocks per set on the year.
• Head Coach Alan Knipe is in his 20th year at the helm of the Beach. In that time, he has earned 376 wins and boasts a .701 winning percentage.
• 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.

Scouting Penn State
• No. 4 Penn State brings a 6-0 overall record into the contest against No. 3 Long Beach State.
• The Nittany Lions have cruised through the first part of 2023 with victories over Central State (3-1), No. 13 Ohio State (3-1), Daemen (3-0), Merrimack (3-0), No. 5 Pepperdine (3-1), and No. 7 Stanford (3-1).
• As a team, Penn State is hitting .369, while averaging 13.68 kills per set on 12.18 assists per set.
• On the defensive end of the ball, the Nittany Lions are averaging 7.91 digs per set and 2.39 blocks per set, to go along with 2.27 service aces per set.
• Leading the offensive attack for the Nittany Lions is senior opposite John Kerr who is averaging 4.11 kills per set on a .411 attack percentage. Kerr is the reining AVCA National Player of the Week as he also adds 1.17 digs per set and 0.94 blocks per set.
• Cole Bogner is the team's setter as he has dished out 10.50 assists per set this season to pilot the Nittany Lions to a .369 hitting percentage. Bogner also contributes 1.50 digs, .59 kills, and 0.41 blocks per set.
• In the backrow, Ryan Merk has logged 40 digs to average 1.90 per set. His solid passing has helped hold opponents to a .162 attack percentage.
• On blocking defense, Owen Rose has been on point putting up 31 total blocks to average 1.41 blocks per set. He also has registered 1.45 kills per set on a .417 attack percentage,
• Penn State is coached by Mark Pavlik who is in his 29th year at helm.

The Series: The Beach vs. The Nittany Lions
Long Beach State and Penn State will meet for the 28th time in program history. A series that dates back to 1985, the Beach leads the all-time series 19-8. However, in their last meeting, the Nittany Lions defeated LBSU in five sets on January 29, 2022 at the Walter Pyramid. When playing each other in Happy Valley, Long Beach State leads 4-1.

Movin' On Up
Last week against Long Island, Mason Briggs logged 12 digs on his way to recording his 500th career dig. Since then he he has moved into 19th place in Long Beach State's All-Time Career Record book with 514. He is just 16 digs shy of moving into 18th place to tie with former LBSU player, Travis Barr, who finished his collegiate career with 530. On the season, Briggs is averaging 3.67 digs per set and is well on his way to join other Long Beach Legends such as Andrew Sato (979), Taylor Crabb (802), Dustin Watten (799), and TJ DeFalco (773), Brent Hilliard (737), and Brett Winslow (708) in the Top 10.

Aces Wild
Sophomore outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis was incredible from the service line against Long Island last week as he served up a career-high eight aces in a single-match. That mark is good for second all-time in the LBSU Single-Match Record book coming in just one shy of the program record (9) which was set in 2001 by Scott Touzinsky against Mercyhurst. On the year, Siapanis has recorded a team-leading 15 aces to average 1.25 per set, which leads the nation. As a team, Long Beach State is averaging a nation-leading 2.75 service aces per set.

Block Party
In addition to leading the nation in aces, Long Beach State also sets the standard in blocks per set with 3.21. Leading the blocking defense for the Beach is junior middle blocker Simon Torwie who has amassed 21 blocks to average 1.75 per set, which is good for second in the country. Junior opposite Clarke Godbold has also been a force at the net this season as he has posted 15 blocks to average 1.25 per set, a number that ranks him 10th in the nation.

Hot Hitting
The Beach have started the season out hot offensively as they are boasting a nation-leading .419 attack percentage. Junior setter Aidan Knipe has been extraordinary this season dishing out 9.08 assists per set to pace the Beach's offensive attack. He's done a solid job distributing the ball to his hitters in Spencer Olivier and Sotiris Siapanis, who are both averaging 3.00 kills per set, while hitting .550 and .324, respectively. Olivier's .550 clip is good for second in the country as he has knocked down 36 kills on 60 swings, while committing just three errors.

Defensively Strong
While the offense has been hot, the Long Beach State defense has been on-point as well. The Beach defense has held their opponents to a mere .071 hitting percentage on the year, which is tops in the NCAA. The LBSU defense has been led by junior libero Mason Briggs in the back court, as well as junior middle blocker Simon Torwie and junior opposite Clarke Godbold at the net. The trio have kept LBSU opponents guessing thus far as they have forced opponents into 73 attack errors in comparison to their 94 kills on 294 swings.

Big West Player of The Week
The Big West announced the weekly Men's Volleyball Awards and Long Beach State's Mason Briggs was named Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts at the East/West Coast Challenge last week.

Briggs averaged 4.17 digs per set as he led the Beach to a pair of sweeps over Long Island and George Mason to extend LBSU's winning streak to four.

The junior libero kicked off the weekend with a 12-dig performance on his way to registering his 500th career dig. His solid defensive efforts forced LIU into a negative attack percentage (-.046). Briggs came back the following night against host George Mason and logged 13 digs, holding the Patriots to a .114 clip in another straight set win.

At the East/West Coast Challenge, Briggs helped Long Beach State hold their opponents to a .046 attack percentage.

On the year, Briggs is leading the nation with 3.67 digs per set, while Long Beach State is also tops in the country in opponent hitting percentage (.071).

This is Briggs' third career Big West Defensive Player of the Week award in his career.

Coming Up...
Long Beach State returns home to the Walter Pyramid to host No. 11 Loyola Chicago on Friday, Feb. 3. First serve is set for 7 p.m. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

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Players Mentioned

Mason Briggs

Clarke Godbold

Aidan Knipe

Spencer Olivier

Sotiris Siapanis

Simon Torwie

Long Beach State University Athletics