By Davis Ramage
LOS ANGELES – No.1 LBSU men’s volleyball made the trip up to Pauley Pavilion to take on the No.3 UCLA Bruins in the second rematch of the 2024 National Championship and left Los Angeles with a sweep of the Bruins.
Coming into the match, LBSU head coach Alan Knipe was not focused on what happened in the National Championship last year
“It’s a totally different year, a totally different team,” Knipe said.
The first set was back and forth as both teams deployed their high-flying redshirt junior hitters in opposite Skyler Varga and outside hitter Cooper Robinson who were ever-present throughout the match.
Robinson finished the game with 16 kills and Varga posted nine of his own.
02/03/24, Los Angeles, Calif.: Long Beach State redshirt junior Skyler Varga slams the ball at the Bruins defensive side of the net as LBSU secured a victory of 3-0 over UCLA on Feb. 12 at the Pauley Pavilion. Photo credit: Justin Enriquez
The largest lead during the first set was three points as even with the athleticism and talent on display, both sides made a multitude of errors resulting in neither team jumping out to a sustainable lead.
The Beach ended the match with 16 service errors while the Bruins posted 15 of their own.
UCLA took the lead 17-15 thanks to timely hitting and Beach errors, but that lead didn’t last long as LBSU freshman setter Moni Nikolov’s run of serves led to three straight points and put The Beach ahead 19-18.
There was an audible gasp by the majority light blue and gold crowd every time he struck the ball on his serves throughout the night.
Nikolov finished the match with 34 assists, seven kills and an ace.
02/03/24, Los Angeles, Calif.: Long Beach State freshman setter Moni Nikolov prepares to fling the ball on the Bruins side of the net. The Beach secured a victory over the Bruins 3-0 on Feb. 12 at Pauley Pavilion. Photo credit: Justin Enriquez
The two volleyball powerhouses were deadlocked at 22 until Nikolov swung awkwardly, got blocked, fell and got back up to his feet to launch another attempt at a kill and convert it to make it 23-22, leaving the crowd in awe.
A UCLA service error three plays later gave LBSU their 25th point of the set and the set victory, a set between two of the best teams in the nation that went how everyone expected it would.
The second set opened with some unorthodox volleyball including a point that included three sets over the net leading to The Beach jumping out to a 7-2 lead and forcing a Bruin timeout.
This was a theme of the second set and Varga, as well as the rest of the Beach hitters, embraced it as they were effective with multiple tips off the attempting Bruin blockers.
From then on, the Bruins took a more direct approach to earning points while Varga and Nikolov continued to display their creativity in the air.
02/03/24, Los Angeles, Calif.: Long Beach State freshman setter Moni Nikolov, prepares the ball to be slammed toward the Bruins side of the net. Nikolov scored seven kills as The Beach secured a victory over the Bruins 3-0 on Feb. 12 at Pauley Pavilion. Photo credit: Justin Enriquez
The Bruins’ approach however was effective as they climbed back into the set, only finding themselves down 17-13 halfway through the second set.
From that point on, the closest The Bruins got was five as a deflated Pauley Pavilion tried to will them back into the set.
The connection between Nikolov and senior middle blocker DiAeris McRaven was visually growing throughout the match as the two connected for three points in the set.
Seemingly every time the energy in the momentum shifted towards UCLA, Nikolov and McRaven delivered, including the final point of the set to take a 2-0 lead for LBSU.
The Bruins jumped out to an early lead in the third set, but it didn’t exceed three points until after the media timeout where they went up 16-12.
Long Beach State hung around and fought back from some costly errors, but UCLA kept going on mini runs as it was clear they were desperate to stay alive in the match.
Sophomore outside hitter Sebastiano Sani’s service run took The Beach from down 17-15 to tied up at 17 and all of a sudden, Long Beach State was in position to close out the match.
The set found itself at another deadlock, this time at 19-19 before Robinson’s attack error gave The Beach the lead at 20-19.
LBSU was able to hold on to take the third set victory thanks to senior outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis‘ thundering kill from the back row as it secured the sweep in an impressive showing in a hostile environment.
After the game, UCLA fans showed their respect for the stars of Long Beach State as they were lined up for autographs from Varga and Nikolov, a symbol of the talent that The Beach possesses.
The Beach’s next game is at home against Vanguard on Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.
