No. 2 LBSU Men’s Volleyball Hits Over .500 In Sweep Of Merrimack

Wednesday, January 17

North Andover, Mass.

2:00 p.m.

Long Beach State University

3-0,0-0Big West

Merrimack College

0-1,0-0NEC

Long Beach St.

Merrimack

Photo by: John Fajardo

No. 2 LBSU Men’s Volleyball Hits Over .500 In Sweep Of Merrimack

1/17/2024 9:32:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score LBSU-Merrimack Box Score

The Beach flexed its depth in straight set road win at Merrimack College

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The No. 2 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team went into Hammel Court and rolled to a 3-0 [25-13, 25-16, 25-16] rout of Merrimack College on Wednesday afternoon.

The Beach (3-0) flexed their depth against the Warriors (0-1) in Merrimack's season opener as sophomore setter Island Doty paced Long Beach State to a .545 attack percentage (37-7-55). LBSU was hot from the service line as the Beach served up 11 aces, led by three from senior Nathan Harlan.

Harlan led the team with eight kills on a .533 attack percentage (8-0-15) as he earned the start at outside hitter. Harlan would finish the match with three digs and two solo blocks.

Doty ran a solid offense with 20 assists, while adding three kills, and one dig.

Junior Sotiris Siapanis started at outside hitter and saw action in the first two sets as he tallied seven kills on eight errorless swings for an .875 attack percentage. He also added three digs and an ace.

Freshman middle blocker Lazar Bouchkov continued his hot start as he posted seven kills, while hitting .667 (7-1-9).

Also earning their first career start on Wednesday were DiAeria McRaven and Daniil Hershtynovich. McRaven hit .429 with five kills at middle blocker, while Hershtynovich added two kills, two aces, one dig, and one assist on the right side.

Senior libero Mason Briggs anchored the defense with six digs in the backcourt leading the Beach to 21 digs to Merrimack's nine.

After two early ties in the first set, Long Beach State surged ahead taking a 15-9 lead over Merrimack by the media timeout. The Beach held the lead the rest of the way as they opened up a 10-point advantage (23-13) after a kill from Bouchkov. LBSU closed the first set on a 4-0 run capped by a kill from Harlan to take the first set, 25-13.

The Beach hit a whopping .611 in the first set as they scored 12 kills on 18 swings with just one error. Even more impressive, Long Beach boasted a 92% sideout percentage in the opening frame.

In the second set, Long Beach took a quick 3-0 lead over the Warriors. However, Merrimack came back to even the score at 4-all. A kill from Siapanis broke the tie and LBSU took a 9-5 lead forcing a timeout by the Warriors. The break in action did not stop the Beach. Long Beach surged ahead and held the lead for the remainder of the set as the Beach cruised to a 25-16 victory.

Leading 2-0, Long Beach State started Sebastiano Sani and Nato Dickinson in the third set. The game started out close, but once again the Beach pulled ahead. LBSU went on a 4-0 run, highlighted by an ace from Dickinson to send the game to the media timeout with the Beach up 15-11. LBSU continued to control the game as they got back-to-back kills from Connor Bloom to open up an 18-12 lead. From there, the Beach rolled to another 25-16 win to complete the sweep.

Merrimack was led by Logan Whitaker who notched nine kills on a .375 clip (9-3-16). Setter Reece Lindstrom paced the Warriors to a .218 hitting percentage as he dished out 19 assists. Carson Bashford led the defense with three digs, while libero Kyle Standage added two.

Long Beach State will stay on the east coast to take part in the NJIT Tournament. The Beach will open the tournament against No. 17 George Mason on Friday, Jan. 19 at 1:30 p.m. (PT), before facing the host Highlanders on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 4 p.m. (PT). The match against NJIT will be broadcast live on ESPN+.