Long Beach State University
8-0,0-0Big West
Belmont Abbey
2-4,0-0Conference Carolinas
Long Beach State Ends The Silver State Showcase With Sweep Of Belmont Abbey
2/1/2025 9:34:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
Long Beach State utilized their depth with a 3-0 victory to finish off two wins without dropping a set in Reno.
RENO, Nev. — No. 1 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball finished their time at the Silver State Showcase unbeaten, closing the weekend with a second sweep, defeating Belmont Abbey 25-17, 25-14, 25-20. Freshmen phemons Moni Nikolov and Alex Kandev had outstanding nights, each earning three aces and double-digit kills.
Freshman Alex Kandev saw his first match for Long Beach State (8-0) and had a great debt, leading the team with 11 kills on .786 hitting and tied the team lead with three aces along with Moni Nikolov. Nikolov finished with 7 kills on .636 hitting himself, leading the defense with nine digs while making 23 assists as the team hit .507 overall against Belmont Abbey (2-4).
Long Beach State controlled the action from the start. Working through Daniil Hershtynovich on the right side, the Beach pushed to a 10-6 lead. Belmont Abbey got a chance to start up their offense after a missed serve, but the defensive efforts of Lazar Bouchkov stopped that chance to put the Beach up 15-10. Kandev closed out the set with a kill to finish off a 25-17 set one win.
Alex Kandev continued to have a stellar start to his career as he stayed consistent on offense to put The Beach on a 4-1 scoring run to start the second set. Belmont Abbey was forced to take a timeout at 10-4 and grabbed a quick kill after. Skyler Varga answered back immediately and put the team on another scoring run. Back-to-back service aces from Kandev gave The Beach an eight-point lead at 18-10. The freshmen were able to finish the set strong after Nikolov delivered an ace to get to set point. Kandev won the set with another kill to put Long Beach State up 2-0.
Belmont Abbey was able to stay within reach in the third set but couldn't stop the Long Beach State offense. The Crusaders only trailed two points through most of the early portion of the set up to 12-10. The Beach pushed to 16-11, and finished off the third set with Island Doty taking over as setter for the final time. Doty finished the night with 14 assists, and Ben Braun finished off the night with a block to close out set three 25-20.
The Beach will host No. 3 UCLA in a NCAA Championship rematch on Friday, February 7 at 7:00 p.m. in the Walter Pyramid.
