No. 2 Long Beach State Battles No. 1 UCLA For The National Championship On Saturday Afternoon

Saturday, May 4

Long Beach, Calif.

2:10 PM

Long Beach State University

UCLA

Photo by: John Fajardo

No. 2 Long Beach State Battles No. 1 UCLA For The National Championship On Saturday Afternoon

5/3/2024 5:34:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

LBSU Match Notes

First serve for the NCAA National Championship match between Long Beach State and UCLA is set for 2:10 p.m. on ESPN on Saturday, May 4

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

#2 LONG BEACH STATE (27-2) vs. #1 UCLA (25-5)
Date: Saturday, May 4
Time: 2:10 p.m.
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Venue: Walter Pyramid
TV: ESPN
Talent: Paul Sunderland & Kevin Barnett
Live Stats: NCAA.com/MediaStats
Twitter: @LBSUMVB

No. 2 Long Beach State Battles No. 1 UCLA For The National Championship On Saturday Afternoon
The No. 2 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team will go head-to-head with Southern California rival No. 1 UCLA on Saturday for the NCAA National Championship. First serve is set for 2:10 p.m. on May 4 inside the Walter Pyramid. The Beach are looking to capture their fourth title in program history and third in the last six seasons, while the Bruins hope to go back-to-back after winning it all in 2023.

Catch All The Action
The 2024 National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship match will be televised live on ESPN and ESPN+. Fans can also follow the action on NCAA.com/MediaStats.

Staying Social
Follow Long Beach State Men's Volleyball on Twitter and Instagram at @LBSUMVB. You can also stay up-to-date on all things Long Beach State by following @LBSUAthletics on Twitter. Be sure to "like" us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram at @LBSU. And don't forget our hashtag #GoBeach.

In the Rankings
• After winning The Big West Championship, Long Beach State moved back into the top spot in the NVA/AVCA Coaches Poll. The Beach garnered 19 first-place votes for a total of 455 points. This season, LBSU went 16-2 against nationally ranked opponents. Despite being ranked No. 1 in the AVCA Poll, Long Beach State is the No. 2 seed in The NCAA Tournament.
• UCLA is ranked No. 2 in the NVA/AVCA Coaches Poll and comes into the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Bruins are 25-5 overall and posted an 11-1 record in MPSF action.
• The Big West is one of the most competitive Division I Men's Volleyball conferences as five of the six Big West schools are nationally ranked, with three of them sitting in the Top 5.

About The Beach
• No. 2 Long Beach State brings a 27-2 overall record into the NCAA Finals. The Beach closed the regular season with a 9-1 Big West mark, winning their third-straight regular season title and second conference tournament title.
• After a thrilling come from behind reverse sweep in the NCAA Semifinals over No. 3 Grand Canyon, the Beach are making their 10th program appearance in the NCAA Finals. When playing in the National Championship match, Long Beach State is 3-7.
• This is the third-straight year Long Beach State and UCLA have faced off in the postseason. Last year, the Beach dropped a tough 3-0 decision to the Bruins in the NCAA Semifinals. The loss came on the heels of a 3-2 reverse sweep win over UCLA in the the 2022 semifinals.
• Long Beach State is 16-10 in the NCAA Tournament and has won three National Titles (1991, 2018, and 2019).
• LBSU secured its spot in the NCAA Tournament for the third-straight year and for the seventh time in the last eight seasons after winning The Big West Championship and earning an automatic bid.
• Long Beach State won The Big West Championship for the second time in program history with a 3-1 victory over No. 2 seed UC Irvine on April 20.
• The Beach have now reached 20-plus wins 23 times in program history. LBSU's 27 wins are tied for sixth most in program history.
• Long Beach State boasts a total of six AVCA All-Americans. Mason Briggs, Sotiris Siapanis, and Simon Torwie were LBSU's First Team honorees, while Aidan Knipe was named to the Second Team, and Clarke Godbold and Skyler Varga earned Honorable Mention status.
• Briggs, Knipe, Siapanis, and Torwie also claimed Big West All-First Team accolades. Varga garnered Big West Honorable Mention status, while Lazar Bouchkov was named to the Big West All-Freshman Team.
• Also earning Big West accolades was Long Beach State Head Coach Alan Knipe who was named Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.
• Associate Head Coach Nick MacRae also was recognized as the AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year.
• Last season, LBSU Head Coach Alan Knipe became the winningest coach in Long Beach State Men's Volleyball program history. On February 2, Knipe recorded his 400th career victory with a 3-0 sweep of King. During his 21-year head coaching career, Knipe boasts a .715 winning percentage.

Scouting UCLA
• No. 1 UCLA owns a 25-5 overall record heading into the NCAA Finals. The Bruins closed the regular season with an 11-1 conference record on their way to winning the MPSF regular season title.
• The Bruins are coming off of a gritty 3-2 victory over No. 4 UC Irvine in the Semifinals.
• Five Bruins were honored with AVCA All-America accolades as Ethan Champlin, Merrick McHenry, Andrew Rowan, Grant Sloane, and Cooper Robinson all tool home national honors. Champlin, McHenry, and Rowan were named to the First Team, while Sloane and Robinson garnered Honorable Mention status.
• Champlin leads the Bruins with 255 kills on the year to average 2.36 kills per set on a .342 attack percentage. He also adds 1.51 digs per set, 0.39 blocks per set, 0.43 assists per set, and 0.19 aces per set.
• Robinson joins Champlin as one of UCLA's offensive weapons averaging 2.62 kills per set on a .328 clip. Robinson contributes 0.78 digs per set, 0.67 blocks per set, 0.41 assists per set, and 0.37 aces per set.
• Rowan is the Bruins' setter who has led the team to a .375 attack percentage. He has dished out 10.01 assists per set this season, to go along with 1.18 digs per set, and a team-leading 39 aces.
• Merrick McHenry, who was named MPSF Player of the Year, leads the Bruins' block with 0.98 blocks per set. He also contributes 1.86 kills per set, while hitting a team-best .576 (207-26-314).
• Slone has been an all-around key contributor for the Bruins with 1.80 kills per set on a .305 hitting percentage, while adding 0.87 digs, 0.46 blocks, and 0.28 aces per set.
• UCLA Head Coach John Speraw is in his 12th year at the helm and just last year, led the Bruins to their 20th Men's Volleyball National Championship in program history.

The Series: The Beach vs. The Bruins
Long Beach State and UCLA will meet for the 104th time in program history. Overall, the Bruins lead the all-time series 57-46. Earlier this season, the two teams split the series with LBSU winning in four sets in Long Beach, and UCLA wining in four sets in Los Angeles. The two evenly matches teams will be facing off in Long Beach for the 39th time in program history and the Beach lead the way with a 21-17 record. When playing each other in the NCAA Tournament, the two teams are 2-2. Their first postseason meeting was in 1970 when UCLA swept Long Beach State for the Championship. The SoCal foes didn't meet in postseason action again until 2018 when the Beach defeated the Bruins in five sets for the National Title inside Pauley Pavilion. Since then, the two teams faced off in 2022 and LBSU came away with a 3-2 Final Four victory at Pauley Pavilion. Just last season, the Bruins defeated the Beach in the NCAA Semifinals in Fairfax, Va., in straight sets.

National Accolades
For the first time in his career, Long Beach State freshman middle blocker Lazar Bouchkov was named AVCA Men's National Collegiate Player of the Week on Tuesday, January 30.

Bouchkov was unstoppable at the net as he led Long Beach to a pair of sweeps over No. 10 Pepperdine and Concordia the week prior. With the straight-set wins, the Beach moved from No. 3 to No. 1 in the nation in this week's AVCA/NVA Poll. Bouchkov paced the blocking defense with an impressive 3.00 blocks per set, while also recording 2.75 points per set, to go along with 1.17 kills per set on a .636 attack percentage (7-0-11).

The product out of Sofia, Bulgaria kicked off the week with 10 blocks against the Waves on Friday night. The double-figure block performance is the second in his young career and just one off his career-best. Bouchkov also added four kills on six errorless swings for a .667 attack percentage, while dishing out one assist.

The next night, Bouchkov put up eight blocks against the Golden Eagles, while tallying three kills on five swings without committing an error en route to hitting .600. He also added a dig in the Beach's convincing sweep on Saturday night of Concordia.

Big West Honors
The Beach continue to rack up the Big West Weekly honors as Simon Torwie went back-to-back winning Offensive Player of the Week award on Monday, Feb. 26, then taking home Defensive Player of the Week honors on Monday, March 4. He claimed his fourth honor of the season with a Defensive Player of the Week nod on Monday, April 16.

Libero Mason Briggs and middle blocker Lazar Bouchkov have each won the award twice on the Defensive side. Briggs, who leads The Big West in digs per set, captured the honors on January 15 and February 12, while Bouchkov, the nation's leader in blocks, won the award in back-to-back weeks on January 22 and 29. Adding to the defensive honors, just this week, junior middle blocker DiAeris McRaven earned his first-ever Big West weekly honors.

If that weren't enough, senior outside hitter Clarke Godbold was recognized for his offensive prowess on January 22 as he was named Big West Offensive Player of the Week.

Numbers to Watch
Mason Briggs and Aidan Knipe are both closing in on some legendary numbers. Briggs has accumulated 921 career digs has he sits in second place all time at Long Beach State. He is just the second Long Beach State Men's Volleyball player to record 900 career digs at the Beach. Additionally, Briggs has racked up 43 double-figure dig matches over his career to tie for second all-time at Long Beach State with Long Beach Legend Dustin Watten. Briggs is just one double-digit dig match away from tying Andrew Sato for the program with 44.

Aidan Knipe, meanwhile, reached the 3,000-career assist milestone in the final match of the regular seaosn. He is in elite company as only seven other Long Beach State Men's Volleyball players have accomplished that feat in program history. After tying his season-high with 52 assists in the Final Four against GCU, Knipe moved into seventh all-time at the Beach with 3,174 assists. Knipe now joins fellow Long Beach Legends Tyler Hildebrand (6,651 career assists), Josh Tuaniga (4,607 career assists), and Mike Klipsch (3,890 career assists) who rank first, fourth, and sixth, respectively.

Milestone Moment
In his 21st year at the helm of the Long Beach State Men's Volleyball program, Head Coach Alan Knipe recorded his 400th career victory on February 2 with a 3-0 sweep of King. Last season, Knipe became the program's all-time winningest coach, and this year he surpassed the 400-career win milestone, and owns a .715 winning percentage. In his time leading the Beach, Knipe has coached six National Players of the Year, and led the program to 12 NCAA Championship appearances, including two National Titles. Knipe has coached 76 All-America selections and 96 All-Conference selections, while mentoring numerous players who have gone on to play professionally overseas and on the AVP circuit.

Block Party
The Beach started the 2024 season with a strong blocking defense presence at the net and as they head into The Big West Championships, they haven't let up. Long Beach State is averaging a nation-leading 3.14 blocks per set. Individually, LBSU has two players in the Top 25 in the country in blocks per set. Senior middle blocker Simon Torwie leads the way with 1.37 blocks per set which leads the nation. Meanwhile, sophomore opposite Skyler Varga comes in 21st with 0.90 blocks per set.

Can You Dig It?
Senior Mason Briggs has established himself as one of the nation's top liberos over the last four years. Briggs currently leads The Big West in digs per set with 2.25, a mark that is good for 10th in the nation. Briggs recorded a season-high 17-dig performance at No. 19 UC Santa Barbara on March 9. He has now recorded double figure digs 43 times in his career and has led LBSU in digs on 72 occasions. With his solid defense, Briggs has helped limit opponents to a .190 attack percentage, which leads The Big West and ranks second in the country.

Helping Hands
Senior setter Aidan Knipe has done an excellent job this season piloting the Beach to a .348 attack percentage, which is good for second in the conference and fifth in the country. Knipe has dished out 10.31 assists per set to come in second in the league and seventh in the nation. With 969 helpers on the year, Knipe became just the eighth Long Beach State Men's Volleyball player to reach 3,000 career assists. In the Final Four against GCU, Knipe tied his season-best with 52 assists to bring his career total to 3,174 which moved him into seventh place all-time at the Beach.

The Best In The (Big) West
Long Beach State has established itself as one of the top teams, statistically speaking in The Big West. The Beach lead the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.190) and blocks per set (3.14). Additionally, LBSU comes in second in the league in hitting percentage (.348) and service aces per set (1.68).

Individually, LBSU has two players who lead the conference as Simon Torwie sets the standard in blocks per set (1.37), and Mason Briggs owns a league-leading 2.25 digs per set average.

Mid Magic
This season, Long Beach State has done an incredible job playing at home at the Walter Pyramid. When playing in the 'Mid, the Beach are a perfect 19-0 this season. LBSU has not dropped a home match since February 10, 2023 against UCLA. The Beach are currently riding a 27-match home winning streak dating back to last season. That streak ranks third in the Long Beach State Men's Volleyball Record Book behind 45-straight home wins from 2016-20, and 32-consecutive home victories from 1998-00.

Growing The Game
As the sport of boy's and men's volleyball continues to grow nation wide, the National Collegiate level has expanded adding the Northeast Conference (NEC) and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). In order to continue to grow the game, Long Beach State is playing four matches against NEC and SIAC members this season. The Beach open the year against NEC members Long Island and Saint Francis (Pa.), and also host a mid-season tournament which will feature SIAC members Central State and Edward Waters.

Expanding The Tournament
As the game grows, so does the NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament. This season, the tournament will feature eight teams in the field instead of seven. The expanded NCAA Tournament field is due to the SIAC being awarded an automatic bid. The SIAC will now join The Big West, Conference Carolinas, EIVA, MIVA, and MPSF as automatic bid conferences. With the expansion, there will now be NCAA Quarterfinal matches on Tuesday, April 30, before the NCAA Semifinals on Thursday, May 2. The NCAA Championship match will take place on Saturday, May 4. All NCAA Tournament match will be played at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.