Long Beach State University
7-0,0-0Big West
Fort Valley State
2-5,0-0SIAC
Long Beach State Starts the Inaugural Silver State Showcase With A Win Over Fort Valley State
1/31/2025 8:29:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
The first meeting in program history between these two teams was a sweep for Long Beach State.
RENO, Nev. — No. 1 Long Beach State opened up the Silver State Showcase from Reno with a 3-0 sweep, defeating Fort Valley State 25-19, 25-17, 25-20. The Beach ended up with nine aces combined from four different players making an impact from the service line while a strong defense held Fort Valley State to a .189 hitting percentage.
Sotiris Siapanis finished with eight kills to go with four aces, part of a balanced effort offensively that saw six different players finish with five or more kills for Long Beach State (7-0). The Beach was once again guided expertly by setter Moni Nikolov to a team hitting percentage of .385, as the freshman finished with 27 assists, 8 digs, five kills and three aces. Freshman middle blocker Isaiah Prueitt also had a strong night, making seven kills on eight swings with no errors.
Fort Valley State (2-5) was able to grab the momentum early to hold a small lead at 6-4 in the first set. The Beach regained the lead at 10-9 thanks to back-to-back kills from Moni Nikolov. The freshman was on fire as he led the team in kills during the first set. Fort Valley was quick to tie it at 10-10, but a service error along with some attack errors from the Wildcats helped the Beach build an 18-14 lead, and two more service errors from Fort Valley State helped close out the first 25-19.
Daniil Hershtynovich got the team fired up with an ace to start the second set. Three more service aces from Sotiris Siapanis quickly opened up the Long Beach State lead early in the set to 6-2. The rest of the Long Beach offense were able to consistently grab points to maintain the lead. Sebastiano Sani and Isaiah Preuitt both had their first kills of the night in the second set, contributing to the large lead at 13-6. Nato Dickinson came into the match to give the Beach some fresh legs and points from two kills of his own. Fort Valley caught a break due to some service errors made by Long Beach State to bring them within six points at 18-12, but an ace from Moni Nikolov pushed the lead back to eight at 21-13 and LBSU closed out the set 25-17 after another Fort Valley State service error.
The third set was the closest yet, but Long Beach State's depth ultimately helped the Beach close out the sweep. Fort Valley State opened up an early lead at 6-4, and pushed out to an 11-7 edge early in the set. Long Beach State quickly pushed back, closing out a 4-0 service run by Sebastiano Sani with an ace and a kill from Siapanis to tie things up at 11-11. A kill from Pruiett finally gave Long Beach State the lead at 17-16, and Sani followed with another kill for a two-point lead. Up 18-17, a service run from Nikolov helped Long Beach State gain control of the set to help finish off the match. A kil from Sani and an ace made the score 20-17, and the Beach would push two more with a Hershtynovich kill and a block, grabbing a 23-17 lead on the way to the 25-20 third set victory.
The Beach will face Belmont Abbey tomorrow at 7 p.m. to wrap up the two-day tournament.
