Long Beach State University
5-0,0-0Big West
Concordia Irvine
4-2,0-0MPSF
Long Beach Men’s Volleyball Remains Undefeated After A Sweep At Home
1/24/2025 9:44:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
Long Beach State had a dominating offensive performance highlighted by 12 service aces.
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Returning back to Long Beach, No. 1 Men's Volleyball swept Concordia in 25-22, 25-19, 25-15 victory. Daniil Hershtynovich led Long Beach state with 14 kills as the Beach hit over .400 as a team behind .545 hitting from Hershtynovich and .562 hitting from Skyler Varga.
Freshman setter Moni Nikolov and Sotiris Siapanis each had four aces for Long Beach State (5-0), part of 12 overall for the match while Siapanis led the team with eight digs and Nikolov finished with 32 assists in the win.
Concordia (3-1) started the first set off strong with a 3-0 run. They missed a serve to give Long Beach their first point of the game. It was a back-and-forth match with both teams tied at 5-5. Sotiris Siapanis scored back-to-back aces to give Long Beach a lead at 7-5. Minor errors made by Long Beach allowed Concordia to catch up at 14-15. Skyler Varga had an ace out of the timeout that led the Beach to grab a few points before Concordia answered back once again bringing them within a few points. A kill by Sotiris Siapanis brought the Beach to 20 points. Another ace by Skyler Varga gave the Beach their first set point. Concordia served the ball long to give Long Beach the first set victory.
After a close first set, Concordia made powerful plays to begin the first set. Kasey Clouet gave the Golden Eagles momentum with the first kill of the set. Daniil Hershtynovich, who has been leading the team in kills this season, answered right back. Sotoris Siapanis stayed strong on offense with four service aces, two coming in the early part of the second set. Long Beach started to find their rhythm with Hershtynovich, Siapanis and Varga all hitting over .500.
Concordia found their footing and tied the match 11-11. Long Beach was able to bring it back with continued aggressive serving from Siapanis. Skyler Varga challenged the block all night to pull Long Beach farther away at 18-12. Service pressure was a big part of the game for Long Beach, as they ended the night with 12 unanswered service aces. Setter Moni Nikolov had four of his own as he went on a service run late in the set. Concordia had an impressive defensive night with two blocks in a row to snag a few points before Long Beach reached set point. An ace by Skyler Varga ended the set and gave Long Beach the 2-0 advantage.
The third set started similarly to the first, with long rallies keeping the score close. Concordia snuck in a few kills from Clement Osahon Jr. to even the score at 7-7. Moni Nikolov served an ace to start the Long Beach momentum that Concordia could not stop. Daniil Hershtynovich led the team on a run to get to 15-10 with back-to-back kills. Sebastiano Sani entered the game after the media timeout and immediately got a kill. He stayed sharp in the front row to nab a solo block. Long Beach sprinted to the finish, only allowing five more points from the Golden Eagles. Siapanis ended a long rally in style with a kill to bring the Beach to match point. Island Doty came into the match as the pinch server and Siapanis ended the game strong with a block to add to his impressive all-around performance.
The Beach will take on Pepperdine in Malibu on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. You can catch all the action on Big10+ or on pepperdinewaves.com/coverage.
