Friday, April 21
Irvine, Calif.
7:30 PM
Long Beach State University
20-4,9-1Big West
0
vs
3
UC Irvine
18-10,6-4Big West
1
2
3
F
Long Beach St.
21
17
20
0
UC Irvine
25
25
25
3
Photo by: John Fajardo
No. 4 Long Beach State Falls in Straight Sets to No. 5 UC Irvine in Big West Semifinals
4/22/2023 12:01:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Shane Holdaway and Simon Torwie hit .444 and .400, respectively, in the setback
Box Score (PDF)
IRVINE, Calif. – No. 4 Long Beach State saw its eight-match winning streak come to an end on Friday night in The Big West Semifinals as No. 5 UC Irvine downed the Beach in straight sets [21-25, 17-25, 20-25] at the Bren Events Center.
The No. 3 seed Anteaters (18-10) advance to The Big West Championship match and will play top-seeded Hawaii (27-2) on Saturday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. The No. 2 seeded Beach (20-4), meanwhile, will find out if their season continues during the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday, April 23 at 10 a.m. The selection show will be streamed on NCAA.com.
The Beach struggled to find their rhythm on Friday night as they were held to a season-low .157 attack percentage, while the Anteaters hit .329 and won the serve and pass game. UCI also managed to out-block Long Beach State 12.5 to 5.5, despite being one of the top blocking defense teams in the country.
The opening set saw the conference foe match each other early on point-for-point. With the game knotted at 15-all, UC Irvine scored three-straight points to take an 18-15 lead over Long Beach State. The Anteaters would hold the lead the rest of the way, ultimately taking the first set over the Beach, 25-21.
UC Irvine jumped out to an early 3-1 lead to start the second set and never looked back. The Anteaters knocked down 16 kills and hit .343 in the frame and never trailed as they took a 25-17 win over LBSU to go up two sets to none.
The Beach got back into the swing of things in the third set and battled the Anteaters through eight ties and a pair of lead changes. Long Beach State went on a 4-0 run as Simon Torwie led the Beach on a serving run that gave them an 8-6 lead. UCI, however, would counter with a 5-0 run of their own to go up 15-12. Another three-straight points by the Anteaters put Irvine up 19-14 as they led the rest of the set and took the set and match with a 25-20 win to complete the sweep.
Long Beach State was led by Shane Holdaway's .444 attack percentage as he knocked down six kills on nine swings with just two attack errors. He also added two blocks, one dig, and one assist. Torwie was also solid as he hit .400 with five kills on 10 attempts, while committing just one attack error. He also led the Beach, along with Clarke Godbold, with three blocks. In addition to his three blocks, Godbold also led the Beach with nine kills.
Junior setter Aidan Knipe distributed 28 assists, while adding three digs and one block.
Defensively, Sotiris Siapanis logged seven digs, while Mason Briggs added four.
Hilir Henno for UC Irvine turned in a 22-kill performance, while hitting .471 to lead the Anteaters. He also added seven digs, three blocks, and two aces. Setter Joe Karlous dished out 26 assists, while Maxim Grigoriev led the team at the net with six blocks.
IRVINE, Calif. – No. 4 Long Beach State saw its eight-match winning streak come to an end on Friday night in The Big West Semifinals as No. 5 UC Irvine downed the Beach in straight sets [21-25, 17-25, 20-25] at the Bren Events Center.
The No. 3 seed Anteaters (18-10) advance to The Big West Championship match and will play top-seeded Hawaii (27-2) on Saturday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. The No. 2 seeded Beach (20-4), meanwhile, will find out if their season continues during the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday, April 23 at 10 a.m. The selection show will be streamed on NCAA.com.
The Beach struggled to find their rhythm on Friday night as they were held to a season-low .157 attack percentage, while the Anteaters hit .329 and won the serve and pass game. UCI also managed to out-block Long Beach State 12.5 to 5.5, despite being one of the top blocking defense teams in the country.
The opening set saw the conference foe match each other early on point-for-point. With the game knotted at 15-all, UC Irvine scored three-straight points to take an 18-15 lead over Long Beach State. The Anteaters would hold the lead the rest of the way, ultimately taking the first set over the Beach, 25-21.
UC Irvine jumped out to an early 3-1 lead to start the second set and never looked back. The Anteaters knocked down 16 kills and hit .343 in the frame and never trailed as they took a 25-17 win over LBSU to go up two sets to none.
The Beach got back into the swing of things in the third set and battled the Anteaters through eight ties and a pair of lead changes. Long Beach State went on a 4-0 run as Simon Torwie led the Beach on a serving run that gave them an 8-6 lead. UCI, however, would counter with a 5-0 run of their own to go up 15-12. Another three-straight points by the Anteaters put Irvine up 19-14 as they led the rest of the set and took the set and match with a 25-20 win to complete the sweep.
Simon Torwie from the middle! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/3PkdeTrL7H
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@LBSUMVB) April 22, 2023
Long Beach State was led by Shane Holdaway's .444 attack percentage as he knocked down six kills on nine swings with just two attack errors. He also added two blocks, one dig, and one assist. Torwie was also solid as he hit .400 with five kills on 10 attempts, while committing just one attack error. He also led the Beach, along with Clarke Godbold, with three blocks. In addition to his three blocks, Godbold also led the Beach with nine kills.
BIG Block for Clarke Godbold and Shane Holdaway to tie the game at 6-6 #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/1SZhAXMjsS
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@LBSUMVB) April 22, 2023
Junior setter Aidan Knipe distributed 28 assists, while adding three digs and one block.
Defensively, Sotiris Siapanis logged seven digs, while Mason Briggs added four.
Hilir Henno for UC Irvine turned in a 22-kill performance, while hitting .471 to lead the Anteaters. He also added seven digs, three blocks, and two aces. Setter Joe Karlous dished out 26 assists, while Maxim Grigoriev led the team at the net with six blocks.
Team Stats
LBSU
Irvine
Kills
33
39
Errors
19
12
Attempts
89
82
Hitting %
.157
.329
Points
38.5
55.5
Assists
30
38
Aces
0
4
Blocks
5.5
12.5
Game Leaders
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
L
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's Volleyball
S
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's VolleyballOPP
/ Men's VolleyballNCAA National Collegiate Championship Post Match Press Conference (Finals)- #1 UCLA
Sunday, May 05
NCAA National Collegiate Championship Post-Match Press Conference (Finals) #2 Long Beach State
Sunday, May 05
#1 UCLA Practice Day 2024 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship Press Conference
Friday, May 03
#2 Long Beach State Practice Day 2024 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship Press Conference
Friday, May 03
