No. 2 Men’s Volleyball Opens Midwestern Road Trip With 3-0 Sweep Of Lindenwood

Wednesday, January 15

St. Charles, Mo.

5:00 p.m.

Long Beach State University

2-0,0-0Big West

Lindenwood

1-1,0-0MIVA

Long Beach St.

Lindenwood

No. 2 Men’s Volleyball Opens Midwestern Road Trip With 3-0 Sweep Of Lindenwood

1/15/2025 7:13:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Long Beach State finished hitting .432 as a team, with Daniil Hershtynovich making 15 kills.

By: Roger Kirk, Associate Athletics Director, Communications & Broadcast

ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Showing late-set toughness and a strong offensive approach, Long Beach State started their three-match road trip out strong with a 25-23, 25-22, 25-21 sweep of Lindenwood. Freshman Moni Nikolov finished with 30 assists and 7 kills, while sophomore Daniil Hershtynovich made 15 kills on .440 hitting to lead the offense.

                And the offense was absolutely firing on Wednesday night behind the guidance of Nikolov. Long Beach State (2-0) had four players finish with seven or more kills and hit .432 as a team, outlasting a game Lindenwood (1-1) squad that hit .324 themselves on the evening.

                Nikolov got the match started with a kill and the Beach moved out to a quick lead in the opening set. Back-to-back kills from Hershtynovich pushed the lead to 10-6, and a miss after the media timeout from the Lions gave the Beach a 16-11 lead. A late run from Lindenwood brough the lead back to 19-18, and the Lions tied the set on a kill from Ian Schuller at 20-20. Nikolov called his own number tied at 21 to retake the lead, and then found DiAeris McRaven for a critical kill. An ace from Nikolov gave Long Beach State set point, and a Sotiris Siapanis kill finished off the set in a 25-23 win for LBSU.

                Another tight set followed in the second. Lindenwood was able to get the advantage early behind a pair of Brenden Louthain kills for a three-point edge at 6-3, but Long Beach State quickly bounded back, sending back two Louthain attempts with back-to-back blocks from Ben Braun and Skyler Varga to tie the set at 7-7. From there, the teams traded points until the Beach was able to get an edge as Siapanis put away an overpass for an 18-16 lead. Capitalizing on a late service error from the Lions, Long Beach State opened up a 24-20 lead and closed out the set 25-22 on a kill from Varga. Hershtynovich really heated up in the second, making eight of his 15 kills on the night in that set.

                Long Beach State closed out the match with their best hitting of the night, making just two errors on .600 hitting in the third while limiting Lindenwood to just .238 hitting. Back-to-back kills from Varga got Long Beach State out to a quick start, and the Beach never trailed in the set. Forcing a Lindenwood timeout up 10-6, the Beach pushed to 14-8 as Nikolov demolished an overpass and LBSU closed out a 25-21 win by capitalizing on seven service errors in the third from Lindenwood.

                The road trip continues for Long Beach State as the Beach takes on McKendree on Thursday evening with a 5 p.m. PT start. Livestreaming for the match will be available at GLVCSN.com.