By Madison Yang
No. 1 Long Beach State men’s volleyball earned its 20th sweep of the season on Saturday night at the Walter Pyramid over the No. 10 UC San Diego Tritons, closing out the regular season and clinching the Big West regular season title.
“The nice thing is we kept our foot on the pedal most of the night, and that’s exactly what [the players’] goal was, and I’m proud that they could end it– end up Big West champs in front of their home crowd,” LBSU head volleyball coach Alan Knipe said.
On senior night, it was freshman setter Moni Nikolov who shined immediately, providing an early service run to the sound of thunderous claps throughout the pyramid.
Nikolov’s deadly serves started The Beach on a three-point run, putting them in the lead at 5-1. The Bulgarian setter sensation added three more aces on the night to give him an astounding 85 on the season.
Redshirt senior opposite hitter Nato Dickinson came out swinging on senior night, hitting .316 while exploiting UCSD’s seams and notching three kills in the first set.
A block by Nikolov and senior middle blocker DiAeris McRaven led The Beach to the set point at 24-11, and a service error from UCSD wrapped up LBSU’s dominant first set win at 25-12.
After a 3-0 start from the Tritons in the second set, redshirt junior opposite hitter Skyler Varga took over, showcasing the depth of The Beach’s offensive arsenal.
With skilled shot placement– landing sharp angles and brushing blocker’s fingers– Varga delivered back-to-back kills to give LBSU an 18-16 lead. LBSU’s captain racked up five kills in the second set and finished with 12 overall.
“When we’re at our best, our guys are mixing up their shots. Whether it’s hard shots or roll shots or tips– whatever it might be– the guys all hit with good range tonight,” Knipe said.
Leading 24-21 at set point, a triple block from junior middle blocker Ben Braun, freshman opposite hitter Alex Kandev and Dickinson clinched the second set by a score of 25-21.
The Beach carried their momentum into the third set, with an early kill from Kandev setting the tone and putting the team up 2-0.
The Beach’s defensive wall at the net was ever-present in the third set and kept the Tritons out of the lead permanently.
Dickinson and McRaven made their defensive presence known on senior night, tallying six and five blocks, respectively.
“We set some pretty high standards for ourselves to be a little bit more attention to detail in that part of the game,” Knipe said. “They did a great job blocking the vault.”
A kill from McRaven put The Beach up 24-15, but they would have to wait to celebrate as the Tritons went on a 3-0 run until Nikolov fittingly delivered the final blow, closing the match with his signature mid-air antics.
This time, he went with a smooth dunk at the net to seal the 25-18 win and cap off one of many dominant nights in a dominant season.
The Beach will head to Hawai’i next Thursday, April 24, to begin their highly anticipated run through the Big West Tournament.
As postseason play begins, Knipe said the focus remains the same: keep pushing and taking their victorious runs as far as they can go.
