Record Men’s Volleyball Crowd Comes To See Black And Blue Rivalry

Friday, March 28

Long Beach, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

Long Beach State University

20-1,2-1Big West

UC Irvine

15-4,1-2Big West

UC Irvine

Long Beach St.

Record Men’s Volleyball Crowd Comes To See Black And Blue Rivalry

3/28/2025 8:58:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

A sold out crowd of 4,676, a new record in the Walter Pyramid for Men’s Volleyball, saw No. 1 Long Beach State’s winning streak come to an end.

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

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Men's Volleyball's 20-match winning streak to start the season came to an end as No. 5 UC Irvine defeated No. 1 Long Beach State 27-25, 25-19, 25-19 in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,676.

A new record high crowd to see Men's Volleyball in the Walter Pyramid, volleyball fans were treated to a high-level match that ultimately went the way of UC Irvine (15-4, 1-2 Big West). Long Beach State (20-1, 2-1 Big West) was led by Skyler Varga who had 13 kills on .391 hitting, but the Beach hit into 7.5 blocks from UC Irvine and the Anteaters had 8 aces along with hitting .472 in the night, making just four errors.

Back-to-back aces to start the set from Nikolov set the tone for Long Beach State in front of a sold out Walter Pyramid crowd. UC Irvine was able to tie the set on an error from Daniil Hershtynovich, but the sophomore came right back with a kill to keep the Beach in front.

With LBSU Leading 15-13 after a kill from Nato Dickinson, UC Irvine went on a 4-0 run behind a service run from Hilir Henno to take their first lead of the set. Long Beach State bounced back with a kill from Nikolov followed by one from Sebastiano Sani to tie the set at 20-20. Tied at 23, the Beach earned a set point with a Varga kill at 24-23. UC Irvine was able to side out however, getting their own edge with a ace from Henno and then finally closing a set one win with a solo block from Nolan Flexen and Micah Goss.

Both teams came back down to earth offensively in the second set as UC Irvine took the second, holding the Beach to .091 hitting. A miss from Sani gave UCI an early 7-5 lead, and the 'Eaters would push to 13-6 on an ace from Goss. Long Beach State rallied back behind a service run from Connor Bloom, using an ace followed by a kill from Nikolov to cut the lead to 14-11 forcing a UC Irvine timeout. The Beach was unable to cut the lead any further, however, and trailing 22-19, the 'Eaters closed out the set with three straight points to take a 25-19 win.

UC Irvine continued to carry the momentum in the third set, opening the set on a 4-0 run. Long Beach State was able to cut the lead back to two on a kill from Alex Kandev at 7-5 but UCI went on another scoring push, taking a 13-7 lead on an ace from Henno. Another ace from UC Irvine, this time from William D'Arcy put 'Eaters on top 18-9. Nikolov's third ace of the night cut the lead to five at 21-16, but UC Irvine closed out the set and the match 25-19.

The Black and Blue Rivalry will now move to the Bren Events Center for the rematch, with first serve at 6 p.m. Saturday from Irvine on ESPN+.