Friday, April 18
La Jolla, Calif.
7:00 p.m.
Long Beach State University
25-2,7-2Big West
3
at
0
UC San Diego
17-10,3-6Big West
1
2
3
F
Long Beach St.
25
25
25
3
UC San Diego
23
10
22
0
Photo by: Edvin Herrera, @EnriqueHPhotos
Dickinson’s Career-High Lifts No. 1 Long Beach State To Sweep Over No. 10 UC San Diego
4/18/2025 9:20:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
The Beach hit .444 as Nato Dickinson and Alex Kandev led the offensive attack
LA JOLLA, Calif. – No. 1 Long Beach State earned a 3-0 [25-23, 25-10, 25-22] sweep over No. 10 UC San Diego in front of the first-ever sold-out crowd at LionTree Arena on Friday night.
The Beach improve to 25-2 overall and 7-2 in Big West action, while the Tritons move to 17-10 on the year and 3-6 in league play.
Senior Nato Dickinson got the start in the middle and turned in a career-high performance with 16 kills on a .423 hitting percentage (16-5-26). The product out of Corona Del Mar, Calif., also chipped in three blocks and two digs.
Freshman Alex Kandev also reached double-figures as he finished the match with 10 kills on a .500 attack percentage (10-3-14).
Pacing the LBSU offense to a .444 clip was freshman setter Moni Nikolov who distributed 38 assists. With his solid passing Nikolov, all five Beach hitters tallied five or more kills and hit over .400 on the night. In addition, Nikolov posted two kills of his own to go along with a pair of digs and an ace.
At the endline, Skyler Varga led the way with three aces. He would go on to finish the contest with six digs, five kills, three blocks, and two assists.
On the defensive end, freshman libero Kellen Larson anchored the backrow with seven digs, while junior middle blocker Ben Braun joined Dickinson and Varga for the team lead with three blocks. Braun also led the Beach with a .571 hitting percentage as he scored five kills on seven attempts, while committing just one error.
Rounding out the Beach hitters was middle blocker DiAeris McRaven who also posted five kills. The senior from Honolulu, Hawaii finished the contest hitting .500 (5-1-8).
The Tritons got the match started with three-straight points. However, the Beach would score three-consecutive points of their own to even the score at 4-4. The would be the tale of the tape for the first set as the conference opponents battled each other through 10 ties and three lead changes in the closely contested frame. UC San Diego took its largest lead (22-18) forcing Long Beach to call a timeout. The break in action proved to be successful for the Beach as they came back to the court and closed the set on a 7-1 run to win, 25-23.
The exciting comeback win in the first set, gave LBSU the momentum it needed to dominate the second set. Following two early ties, Long Beach State broke the game open with a 7-0 run highlighted by back-to-back aces from Varga as the Beach led 8-2. Long Beach pushed the game out of reach after scoring six-straight points to extend their lead to 13 (20-7). LBSU hit .500 in the frame and UCSD suffered a -.267 clip as the Beach rolled to a 25-10 victory.
Following the lopsided win, the third set went back-and-forth early on. After a triple block from Varga, Dickinson, and Braun, the Beach went up 11-8 on UCSD as the Tritons took a timeout. UC San Diego utilized its final timeout after a kill from Kandev gave the Beach a 19-16 advantage. From there, the Beach led the rest of the way as they completed the sweep, 25-22, on a match-winning kill from Braun.
Josh Schellinger closed the match with nine kills, while Bryce Dvorak dished out 26 assists. He also logged two digs, one kill, and the squad's lone service ace. Defensively, Peter Selcho and Keegan Cook recorded three digs, while Leo Pravednikov, Nick Rigo, and Sam Warren each put up two blocks.
The Beach and the Tritons will face off again on Saturday, April 19 at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid. The match, which is Senior Night for Long Beach State, will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The five LBSU seniors in Noah Robin, Sebastian Rodriguez, Nato Dickinson, DiAeris McRaven, and Sotiris Siapanis will be recognized following the match.
The Beach improve to 25-2 overall and 7-2 in Big West action, while the Tritons move to 17-10 on the year and 3-6 in league play.
Senior Nato Dickinson got the start in the middle and turned in a career-high performance with 16 kills on a .423 hitting percentage (16-5-26). The product out of Corona Del Mar, Calif., also chipped in three blocks and two digs.
That is 13 kills for Nato Dickinson!?? pic.twitter.com/8NHOG1xmAR
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@LBSUMVB) April 19, 2025
Freshman Alex Kandev also reached double-figures as he finished the match with 10 kills on a .500 attack percentage (10-3-14).
Pacing the LBSU offense to a .444 clip was freshman setter Moni Nikolov who distributed 38 assists. With his solid passing Nikolov, all five Beach hitters tallied five or more kills and hit over .400 on the night. In addition, Nikolov posted two kills of his own to go along with a pair of digs and an ace.
At the endline, Skyler Varga led the way with three aces. He would go on to finish the contest with six digs, five kills, three blocks, and two assists.
Back-to-back aces from Skyler Varga cap a 7-0 LBSU run. That's the 3rd ace of the match for Varga?????? pic.twitter.com/kw9IPYnJeP
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@LBSUMVB) April 19, 2025
On the defensive end, freshman libero Kellen Larson anchored the backrow with seven digs, while junior middle blocker Ben Braun joined Dickinson and Varga for the team lead with three blocks. Braun also led the Beach with a .571 hitting percentage as he scored five kills on seven attempts, while committing just one error.
Rounding out the Beach hitters was middle blocker DiAeris McRaven who also posted five kills. The senior from Honolulu, Hawaii finished the contest hitting .500 (5-1-8).
The Tritons got the match started with three-straight points. However, the Beach would score three-consecutive points of their own to even the score at 4-4. The would be the tale of the tape for the first set as the conference opponents battled each other through 10 ties and three lead changes in the closely contested frame. UC San Diego took its largest lead (22-18) forcing Long Beach to call a timeout. The break in action proved to be successful for the Beach as they came back to the court and closed the set on a 7-1 run to win, 25-23.
The exciting comeback win in the first set, gave LBSU the momentum it needed to dominate the second set. Following two early ties, Long Beach State broke the game open with a 7-0 run highlighted by back-to-back aces from Varga as the Beach led 8-2. Long Beach pushed the game out of reach after scoring six-straight points to extend their lead to 13 (20-7). LBSU hit .500 in the frame and UCSD suffered a -.267 clip as the Beach rolled to a 25-10 victory.
Following the lopsided win, the third set went back-and-forth early on. After a triple block from Varga, Dickinson, and Braun, the Beach went up 11-8 on UCSD as the Tritons took a timeout. UC San Diego utilized its final timeout after a kill from Kandev gave the Beach a 19-16 advantage. From there, the Beach led the rest of the way as they completed the sweep, 25-22, on a match-winning kill from Braun.
A Ben Braun kill secures the win for the Beach, 25-22, as Long Beach State completes the sweep over UC San Diego #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/0LpJHh0JVC
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@LBSUMVB) April 19, 2025
Josh Schellinger closed the match with nine kills, while Bryce Dvorak dished out 26 assists. He also logged two digs, one kill, and the squad's lone service ace. Defensively, Peter Selcho and Keegan Cook recorded three digs, while Leo Pravednikov, Nick Rigo, and Sam Warren each put up two blocks.
The Beach and the Tritons will face off again on Saturday, April 19 at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid. The match, which is Senior Night for Long Beach State, will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The five LBSU seniors in Noah Robin, Sebastian Rodriguez, Nato Dickinson, DiAeris McRaven, and Sotiris Siapanis will be recognized following the match.
Team Stats
LBSU
UCSD
Kills
43
29
Errors
11
16
Attempts
72
70
Hitting %
.444
.186
Points
51.5
34.0
Assists
40
29
Aces
4
1
Blocks
4.5
4
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
16
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
5
Aces
3
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
OPP
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/ Men's VolleyballOPP
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