No. 4 Long Beach State Flexes Depth in Four-Set Win at No. 11 USC

Saturday, March 25

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

Long Beach State University

14-3,3-1Big West

USC

8-11,1-5MPSF

Long Beach St.

Southern California

Photo by: John Fajardo

No. 4 Long Beach State Flexes Depth in Four-Set Win at No. 11 USC

3/25/2023 11:02:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Sotiris Siapanis leads Long Beach State with a double-double in gritty road win

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery

LOS ANGELES – No. 4 Long Beach State battled No. 11 USC through a gritty 3-1 [25-13, 14-25, 27-25, 25-21] match at the Galen Center on Saturday night for their eighth win in the last nine contests.

The Beach (14-3) flexed their depth as they got solid play off the bench from a handful of players in sets two, three, and four. Without using any substitutions in the first set, Long Beach State dominated USC (8-11) by a score of 25-13. LBSU hit .323 in the frame and forced the Trojans into a negative attack percentage (-.033). Long Beach State scored six-straight points to take a 10-7 advantage as USC called a timeout. The Beach then went on a 10-0 run to open up a dominant 23-10 lead thanks to a solid serving run from Sotiris Siapanis to put the game out of reach.

The second set went back and forth early on, but USC turned the tables on the Beach using a 6-0 run to jump out to a 13-6 lead, before opening a double-digit advantage (17-7) forcing Long Beach State to call a timeout. The Trojans would take the second set, 25-14, to even the match at one set apiece.

Despite the lopsided wins in the first two sets, the next two games were nailbiters that saw a combined 15 ties and six lead changes.

The Beach hit .368 in the third set knocking down 18 kills in the overtime contest. Back-to-back kills from Clarke Godbold put Long Beach up 11-7, but USC would chip away and make it a one-point game (12-11). Nathan Harlan came off the bench and provided a spark for the Beach recording a kill to give LBSU an 18-14 lead. However, the Trojans would not go away as they fought back and knotted the score at 23-all. Following a Long Beach timeout, the set saw three more set points, before Godbold gave the Beach the 27-25 victory.

The two teams exchanged points early on in the fourth set before USC scored four-straight points to take an 18-15 edge. The Beach called on Connor Bloom to come in and serve and the redshirt freshman led the Beach on a 5-0 run turning the deficit into a 21-19 Long Beach State lead. After the Trojans made it a one-point game (22-21), LBSU closed the match with three-straight points as the Beach won it on a triple block by Siapanis, Godbold, and Grant Marocchi.

Siapanis led the Beach with a double-double as he finished the match with 15 kills and 10 digs to go along with four blocks, two assists, and one ace. Also recording 15 kills was Godbold who hit .289, while adding eight digs, three blocks, and an assist. Harlan was solid as he came off the bench and tallied eight kills on a .467 clip with three digs, and an ace.

Aidan Knipe dished out 36 assists, while logging nine digs to narrowly miss a double-double. Helping out with setting duties was freshman Island Doty who made his collegiate debut and chipped in a pair of assists and a dig.

Mason Briggs recorded his ninth double-figure dig performance as he concluded the match with 10, while also adding five assists.

USC's Simon Gallas posted 12 kills, while Dillon Klein added 11. Nate Tennant dished out 29 assists and 15 digs for a double-double, while Lucas Frassrand and Kyle Paulsen patrolled the net with seven and six blocks, respectively.

Long Beach State resumes Big West action next week when the Beach play UC San Diego on the road on Friday, March 31 at 7 p.m. LBSU and UCSD will face off again on Saturday, April 1 at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.