Long Beach State University
16-0,1-0Big West
Sacred Heart
3-10,0-6EIVA
Men’s Volleyball Rolls To 3-0 Win Over Sacred Heart
3/7/2025 10:19:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
Long Beach State has not dropped a set since February 7, recording six straight sweeps.
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Skyler Varga led Long Beach State with 12 kills and Alex Kandev added nine on .500 hitting as the Beach continued their unbeaten run to start the season with a 25-18, 25-16, 25-20 win over Sacred Heart.
Kandev had an impressive all-around match as he hit five aces, made seven digs and had nine kills on 16 swings with one error, while Connor Bloom also had an efficient night hitting 429 with six kills and no errors. Long Beach State (16-0) finished with 12 aces, the second-most this season on the way to the win.
Back-to-back aces from Alex Kandev helped push Long Beach State in front in the first set at 10-8. Sacred Heart (3-10) held on to keep it a 14-12 game. A double-block from Moni Nikolov and DiAeris McRaven helped widen the lead to 20-17. A kill from Skyler Varga boosted the Beach to set point at 24-18 and a service ace from Nikolov sealed the deal as Long Beach State took the first set.
Long Beach State started the second set strong with a 7-3 start after back-to-back aces from Skyler Varga. A successful challenge helped the Sacred Heart stop the run briefly, but another ace, this time from Kandev sparked another run from the Beach. Pushing to 17-9, Long Beach State opened up a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-16 set two win.
A pair of overpass kills early in the set allowed Sacred Heart to take the lead in the third, moving ahead 7-5 in front of Long Beach State. The Beach bounced back with a sideout from Varga, but trailed as late as 9-8. A kill from Nikolov tied the set at 9-9 and a service run from Bloom allowed the Beach to retake the lead at 11-9, and the Beach would never again trail. Alex Kandev's fifth service ace of the night gave the Beach a 14-10 advantage. McRaven snuck in a straight down kill at 20-14 as they looked to close out the match. The Beach finished the set 25-20 to take their sixth straight match in three sets.
The Beach will be back in action on Friday, March 14 in the Walter Pyramid to take on No. 7 CSUN at 7 p.m.
