No. 3 Long Beach State Defeats McMaster in Five in Road Exhibition Match

Thursday, January 5

Hamilton, Ontario

5:00 p.m.

Long Beach State University

1-0, 0-0

McMaster

10-1, 10-0

Long Beach State

McMaster

No. 3 Long Beach State Defeats McMaster in Five in Road Exhibition Match

1/5/2023 10:31:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Clarke Godbold and Sotiris Siapanis each recorded double-doubles as the Beach hit .331 in the exhibition win at McMaster

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery

HAMILTON, Ontario – The No. 3 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team got its first tune-up of the 2023 season on Thursday night at the North America Challenge in which they defeated McMaster, 3-2 [25-17, 23-25, 25-15, 19-25, 15-12].

The Beach came into the match against the Marauders, who are ranked No. 2 in Canada, and hit .331 as they were led by junior outside hitter Clarke Godbold and sophomore outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis who each recorded a double-double. Godbold led the Beach with 17 kills, 11 digs, one ace, and one solo block, while hitting .278. Meanwhile, Siapanis hit .310 as he knocked down 13 kills to go along with 11 digs, three assists, and one solo block.

Joining Godbold and Siapanis in double-figure kills was senior outside hitter Spencer Olivier who added 12 kills on a .308 attack percentage. He also added three digs and a solo stop at the net.

Redshirt junior setter Aidan Knipe turned in a steady performance with 43 assists as he distributed the ball well and led LBSU to a .400 or higher attack percentage in four of the Beach's five sets. Knipe also contributed six digs, one ace, and one solo block in the match.

Defensively, Long Beach State kept McMaster off balance throughout as the Marauders managed to hit just .163 in the contest. Junior Mason Briggs was stout defensively as he logged a team-leading 14 digs in the back row to go along with eight assists in a solid passing game.

At the net, the Beach put up eight total team blocks as junior opposite Simon Torwie posted three solo stops on his own. The 6-foot-10 Torwie excelled on both sides of the ball as he hit a team-leading .462 (7-1-13) with seven kills to help lead the Beach.

Long Beach State got things going early as they hit .474 (11-2-19) in the opening set and after two ties, held the lead the rest of the way. The Beach went on to claim the first set 25-17.

Despite out-hitting the Marauders .483 to .385 in the second set, the Beach came up just short as McMaster managed to edge out the 25-23 set two victory to even the match at one set apiece.

The Beach bounced back in the third set as they hit .481 and led the entire set, limiting McMaster a .143 clip. Everything seemed to be going Long Beach's way in the third set as the Beach cruised to a 25-15 win to take a 2-1 lead over the hosts.

LBSU suffered a setback in the fourth set in which the Beach were forced into a negative attack percentage (-.129). McMaster capitalized on the Beach's misfortunes and, despite hitting just .143 in the frame, took the set, 25-19, to force a fifth set.

Long Beach State looked more like themselves in the fifth set as the Beach got back to playing their game and hit a whopping .538 in the frame. After eight early ties, LBSU surged ahead and took the fifth set by a score of 15-12, to secure the win.

McMaster was led by Sam Cooper's 16 kills, while Mateusz Wlodarski added 10 kills on a .400 attack percentage (10-2-10). Robbie Fujisawa finished the match with 34 assists, nine digs, and two solo blocks.

Long Beach State and McMaster will face off again on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 10 a.m. (PST) in the North America Challenge. That will be the Beach's final exhibition match prior to the official start of the 2023 season, which begins on Friday, Jan. 13 against King at 7:30 p.m., at the Walter Pyramid.