By It was another perfect weekend for the No. 1 Long Beach State men’s volleyball team (14-0), who swept the Barton College Bulldogs (8-7) in back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday at the Walter Pyramid.
The Beach used this weekend’s doubleheader as an opportunity to get more playing time for their reserves, with several key starters not playing their normal amount ahead of the beginning of Big West play on March 5 against No. 12 Cal State Northridge.
“This weekend gave us the ability to show how deep our team really is,” Assistant head coach McKay Smith said.
Saturday saw The Beach dominate the Bulldogs, winning a set by no less than nine points.
It was a balanced attack as three Beach players had at least nine kills with freshman outside hitter Alex Kandev leading the way with 11 kills.
The Beach’s defense shined as no Bulldog had double-digit kills and the Bulldogs were only able to rack up 17 kills on the night while The Beach racked up 40; a one-sided scoreline further proved by the box score.
The obvious mismatch in talent led to an easy 3-0 sweep of the Bulldogs on Saturday and the two teams geared up to play again on Sunday.
Sunday’s rematch started competitive as Barton only trailed 8-6 to start the first set of the game.
Redshirt junior outside hitter Connor Bloom was pivotal in The Beach pulling away with the lead, contributing two kills and two service aces to help spark an 11-3 run to close the set out 25-14.
LBSU sophomore outside hitter Sebastiano Sani delivered a powerful kill off an assist from junior setter Island Doty to wrap up the first set for The Beach.
Redshirt junior opposite hitter Skyler Varga rises up for a kill against Barton College on Feb. 23 at the Walter Pyramid. The Beach cruised through both matches on the weekend with their smallest margin by which they won a set being five points. Photo credit: Devin Malast
The second set featured LBSU freshman setter Moni Nikolov, who was his typical masterful self.
Nikolov led the country in aces per set and 22nd in assists per set coming into Sunday.
The Bulgarian phenom had maybe his most impressive kill of the match early in the second set, leaping to deliver a cross-body attack that the Bulldogs had no defense for.
After The Beach built a sizable lead, the Bulldogs managed a 5-2 run to cut it to 21-13 but failed to muster another score as LBSU claimed the set 25-13, thanks to three consecutive service aces from Nikolov.
The standout setter finished the night with 31 assists, five aces and three kills on the night.
“There’s a saying that goes around our locker room: ‘It must be nice,’” Smith said. “That’s how you feel when [Nikolov] goes on those runs, and we’re going to savor those opportunities to keep him [serving] as many times as possible.”
After sweeping two top ten schools in the country, No. 8 Grand Canyon University and No. 3 UCLA Bruins, The Beach were surprisingly in danger of dropping just their fifth set of the season to the Bulldogs, trailing 8-4 early and 16-14 midway through the set.
The duo of Sani and Kandev was instrumental in leading the comeback for The Beach, taking over with six kills each in the set. Both finished with 12 kills on the night.
“The experience to play in the Pyramid is really wonderful and I’m grateful for the chance the coaches have given me to show what I’ve got,” Kandev said.
Sani closed out the match with a service ace to take the set 25-20 and secure the sweep, The Beach’s fifth consecutive sweep.
“We let go of the pedal a little bit in the set but we took a timeout and regrouped and we were just ready to go,” Sani said.
“There’s no easy nights in our conference,” Smith said. “[This weekend] we got some more experience for guys that will be ready when their number is called.”
Starting with Cal State Northridge on March 5, The Beach head into Big West play as the top team in the country but face a daunting conference schedule featuring five of the top 16 schools in the nation.
