By Jack Haslett
No. 2 Long Beach State improved to 10-0 at the Walter Pyramid on Friday night after triumphing over No.9 Penn State three sets to one.
The Beach entered Friday’s match ranked outside of the number one spot after falling behind Grand Canyon University in the most recent AVCA/NVA Collegiate Coaches’ Poll.
Before the game, Olympic gold medalist and LBSU alumni Tom Hoff was honored in a jersey-retirement ceremony before a packed Friday night crowd where his No. 9 jersey was immortalized in the rafters of the Walter Pyramid forever.
The first set began neck and neck with The Beach and Penn State trading points and volleying constantly through the first twelve exchanges. Neither team would go on an uncontested run of more than two points until a 4-0 run from Long Beach nearly 20 exchanges into the match put them up 13-8.
Sophomore outside hitter Skyler Varga was a force to be reckoned with on both sides of the net. The Saskatchewan native was second-best on the team in both kills and digs with 14 kills and 10 digs while also setting the tone from the service line with a team-best five service aces.
“Defensively… that’s huge to create energy for the game, so I think I took pride in that,” Varga said. “Feeding off that energy helps me with attacking, that correlates right to it.”
Long Beach capped the first set with a 3-0 scoring run to finish off the set 25-17.
The second set began in a more dominating fashion for The Beach than the prior. An early 8-3 run provided a healthy lead before the pressured Penn State used their first timeout of the set.
Long Beach State nearly doubled their opponent’s points in the second set which ended 25-14 in favor of the home team and was capped off by a kill from junior outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis.
Siapanis led the team in kills with 17, one shy of his season-high earned earlier this year against UCLA. Together with Varga, the duo was a powerhouse responsible for 56% of the team’s points.
“We were enjoying it tonight, we were feeding off each other’s energy,” he said. “I think it paid off, just having fun.”
The third set returned to the back-and-forth fashion of earlier in the night. The score tied five separate times in the first ten exchanges before Long Beach began to once again inch away on the scoreboard.
Defensive struggles plagued Long Beach early in the third set with four of the first six points they allowed coming on errors.
A 4-1 run briefly put The Beach ahead 9-6, but the Nittany Lions immediately answered with a 4-1 run of their own to tie it again 10-10.
Penn State would outlast The Beach in the third set footrace and take the set 26-24.
The fourth set was a return to form for Long Beach both offensively and defensively as they delivered several stifling blocks and Siapanis collected five kills in the set to lead the Long Beach onslaught.
“We had a couple of opportunities that we feel like we didn’t convert,” head coach Alan Knipe said. “Instead of panicking about that in the fourth set, we got out of the gate right away being a lot cleaner. And that’s the sign of a team that’s maturing.”
A 7-2 run sent Long Beach soaring ahead in a way Penn State couldn’t keep up with, and The Beach eventually took the fourth and final set 25-14.
Long Beach State next hosts conference rival UC Santa Barbara at Walter Pyramid on Friday, March 8 at 7 p.m.
