By Naoki Gima
The Beach began the weekend with a competitive sweep over the Tornadoes with set victories of 25-17, 25-11 and 25-17 on Friday night and 25-17, 25-20 and 25-14 on Saturday night.
Senior opposite hitter Clarke Godbold looked dominant in the two sets he played on Friday notching eight kills on nine attempts. Senior outside hitter Nathan Harlan led The Beach in scoring with 10.5 points, recording seven kills, three service aces and a block assist.
Friday night’s scoreline at first glance can be misleading as The Beach gave up a combined 23 points due to service and block errors.
The second game of the back-to-back saw some adjustments made by The Beach, resulting in it being much more poised on offense and defense. Long Beach State looked much sharper defensively as they recorded 21 digs and 13 blocks en route to a second sweep of the Tornadoes.
Junior outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis recorded the highest scoring output for The Beach on the weekend averaging 13.5 points, 10 of those coming from kills on 14 attempts.
Long Beach State junior outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis dives for a dig against King inside the Walter Pyramid. Siapanis would record six digs to go along with 10 kills to lead The Beach through a second sweep against the Tornadoes. Photo credit: Naoki Gima
Long Beach State head coach Alan Knipe also hit a big milestone over the weekend, surpassing the 400-win mark for his Long Beach coaching career. His son, redshirt senior setter Aidan Knipe, has played a major part in helping Knipe reach this milestone.
“It’s special, those are important milestones,” Knipe said. “It’s nice to also have my son be a part of that group as a player, overall he’s probably been in the building for 300 of those wins in some form.”
The games over the weekend also saw Knipe experiment with different lineups and go deeper into his depth chart. The added experience for some of the younger players on the roster, which could prove to be valuable in the future as The Beach hopes to make a deep playoff push.
“I think we accomplished what we wanted,” Knipe said. “We wanted to use different pieces on different nights to get some guys out there and get some experience and get them ready for the rest of the season.”
Nathan Harlan got the start on Friday night, building some chemistry and confidence with his teammates.
“It was amazing to be able to start in this gym and this atmosphere. I loved every second I was on the court with the guys.”
Long Beach State will take on a familiar opponent in No. 5 UCLA on Friday, Feb. 9 at The Walter Pyramid.
