Long Beach State University
14-0,0-0Big West
Barton College
8-7,3-1Conference Carolinas
Men’s Volleyball Nabs A Third Sweep To Finish The Weekend
2/23/2025 6:15:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
Long Beach State remains undefeated after a three-win weekend.
LONG BEACH, Calif. - No. 1 Long Beach State once again utilized their depth as they swept Barton 25-14, 25-13, 25-20. The team hit .567, making just six errors in three sets and made 12 aces in a dominant offensive performance.
Alex Kandev and Sebastiano Sani both hit 12 kills and .706 and .688 respectively to lead the team on offense. Moni Nikolov hit five service aces, and five other players had aces of their own.
Long Beach State (14-0) started the match with a block from Nikolov. An ace from Kandev continued the momentum and one from Ben Braun brought the score to 4-1. Barton was able to land a few kills off the block of the Beach to keep it a three-point game at 10-7. Moni Nikolov hit his first service ace of the night to keep things rolling for the Beach at 13-8. A block from Braun and Kandev boosted the Beach to 19-11. Barton was only able to grab three more points on the way to a 25-14 first set win for the Beach.
Blocking got Long Beach State started in the second set, Braun and Nikolov got a double block to put the Beach up early in the set. A triple block brought the set to 7-4 and the lead widened from there. Connor Bloom hit back-to-back kills to bring the Beach to 14-7. Isaiah Preuitt hit his first ace of the season two points later. Seth Deppe was able to answer back with a service ace which gave Barton (8-7) a small run to get to 20-12. Moni Nikolov hit three service aces to end the set 25-13.
Barton went on a 3-0 scoring run early in the third set and were up 6-3. They continued to hold their lead with kills from their leading scorer, Jake Adams. The Beach tied it up at 12-12 with a kill from Sani. The Beach continued to be one point short of the lead as Barton stayed aggressive on offense. A missed serve from Barton kept the Beach within one at 16-15. A solo block from Braun tied the score at 16-16.
A kill from Bloom gave the Beach their first lead of the set and forced the Bulldogs into a timeout at 17-16. Another kill from Bloom pushed the lead to 20-18. Kandev bounced a huge kill to earn match point and Sani hit a service ace to win the match in three sets.
Long Beach State will have a week off before beginning conference play against No. 12 CSUN on Wednesday, March 5 in Northridge.
