Friday, February 3
Long Beach, Calif.
7:00 p.m.

Long Beach State University

6-0,0-0Big West

3
vs
2

Loyola Chicago

7-2,0-0MIVA

1
2
3
4
5
F
Loyola Chicago
25
21
19
25
15
2
Long Beach St.
23
25
25
23
17
3
Team Win
Photo by: John Fajardo

No. 3 Long Beach State Battles Out a Gritty 3-2 Win Over No. 12 Loyola Chicago

2/4/2023 12:07:00 AM | Men's Volleyball

Clarke Godbold leads the way with a career-high 20 kill performance, while Nathan Harlan provides a spark off the bench

Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery

LONG BEACH, Calif. –
Reigning AVCA National Player of the Week Clarke Godbold continued his offensive tear as he led No. 3 Long Beach State to a 3-2 [23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 17-15] victory over No. 12 Loyola Chicago with a career-high 20-kill performance on Friday night at the Walter Pyramid.
With the win, the Beach extend their winning streak to six, while the Ramblers drop to 7-2 overall.

As a team, Long Beach State hit .370 over five sets and put up 11.0 total team blocks, while turning in an excellent showing on both sides of the ball. Meanwhile, Loyola stayed competitive as the Ramblers hit .363 with 12.5 total team blocks. The back-and-forth contest, which saw 41 ties and 14 lead changes, was evenly matched throughout as LBSU led in kills (70-62), assists (65-59), and digs (41-40), and Loyola led in aces (5-4) and blocking defense.

Godbold led the Beach as he knocked down a career-best 20 kills on 38 swings for a .395 attack percentage. Additionally, he added a season-high seven blocks, and three digs to total 23.5 points.
 

Sotiris Siapanis and Simon Torwie also recorded double-digits as Siapanis registered a season-high 15 kills on a .312 clip, and Torwie knocked down a career-high 13 kills on 17 errorless swings for an impressive .765 attack percentage. Torwie and Siapanis also contributed at the net logging six and four blocks, respectively.

Aidan Knipe did a great job distributing the ball to his hitters as he racked up a season-best 54 assists as he led Long Beach State to its fourth match in which they hit over .300 this season. Knipe also added six digs, one kill, and one ace in the match.

Leading the LBSU defense was libero Mason Briggs who picked up 10 digs in the backrow and picked up 17 errorless receptions for another solid passing performance. Siapanis added nine digs as he just missed a double-double.

The opening set gave the nearly 1,600 fans in attendance a preview of how closely contested the match would be as the two teams battled each other through 13 ties and four lead changes. The set went back and forth until both teams were deadlocked at 21-all. The Beach called a timeout after the Ramblers took a 22-21 lead, then utilized their final timeout after Loyola extended their lead to two (23-21). LUC sent it to set point on an ace from Parker Van Buren, but the Beach refused to quit as they made it a one-point game (24-23), before dropping the first set, 25-23.

After trading points early in the second set, Long Beach State brought in Nathan Harlan who provided the Beach with a solid serving run. With Harlan at the line, LBSU went on a 5-0 run and took a 17-16 edge over the Ramblers. The Beach got a solid showing off the bench from Calvin Sanborn who led them on a stretch in which LBSU took a 19-17 lead. Three-consecutive kills from Torwie gave Long Beach State a 23-19 advantage before winning, 25-21, on a Rambler attack error.

Tied 1-1, Long Beach State hit .433 in the third set and sided out at 80% as the hosts held a three-point lead (15-12) at the media timeout. Back-to-back kills from Godbold, followed by a Torwie kill gave LBSU a 21-17 lead forcing Loyola to call a timeout. The Beach were undeterred as they came back onto the court and pushed it to set point on a big block from Shane Holdaway, Harlan, and Godbold. Harlan would finish things off with a kill to give the Beach the 25-19 win.
 

The fourth set was just as electric as the first three as it provided six ties and two lead changes. The Beach hit .379 in the frame, while the Ramblers posted a .483 hitting percentage and got 10 kills from Van Buren in the set. Another set that went down to the wire as the two teams were knotted at 23-all, before Loyola tallied back-to-back points to win the deuce set, 25-23, and force a fifth game.

The fifth and final set did not disappoint. Loyola hit .500 with a 70% sideout percentage, while Long Beach hit .471 and sided out at 80%, while treating the crowd to 14 ties and four lead changes in a set that would go into overtime. The Beach earned match point three times as the Ramblers would not go quietly. Siapanis would put the game and match away with back-to-back kills to win the nail-biter for the Beach, 17-15.
 

Van Buren was on-point for the Ramblers as he finished the match with 28 kills on a .479 hitting percentage, while adding five digs, five blocks, and four aces. Setter Dan Mangun recorded 49 assists and 10 digs for a double-double, while Nicodemus Meyer put up six blocks at the net.

Long Beach State will take on No. 2 UCLA next week in a pair of Top 5 match ups. First the Beach will play the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 8 p.m., in a match that will be televised on the Pac-12 Network. Then LBSU will play host to UCLA on Friday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m., at the Walter Pyramid. That match will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

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