Long Beach State Sweeps UC San Diego on Senior Night, Prepares for Postseason

By: Teran Rodriguez

Hello sports fans, and welcome back to the IE Sports Radio Blog. The number one ranked Long Beach State Men’s Volleyball team locked up the No.1 seed of the Big West Conference Championships with a 25-12, 25-21, 25-18 sweep over 10th ranked UC San Diego on Saturday at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach.

Moments after the Beach clinched the No.1 seed of their conference tournament, they found out that they had clinched the Big West Conference regular season championship, as 18th ranked UC Santa Barbara upset third ranked Hawaii. This marked the fourth straight season Long Beach State has won outright or shared the Big West Conference regular season championship.

On a night where the Beach honored its five seniors, DiAeris McRaven, Nato Dickinson, Sotiris Siapanis, Sebastian Rodriguez and Noah Robin on senior night, the Beach put together one last tune-up before heading off to Hawai’i for the Big West Conference Championships at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

“Every senior class is different, but they all leave their mark on your program. It’s littered with guys that’s committed up to five years in the program, but it’s not just the kills, the blocks and the passes, it’s what they commit on a daily basis, especially the guys that haven’t played as much in matches,” Long Beach State men’s volleyball coach Alan Knipe said. 

The first set saw Long Beach State get off to a fast start, leading 5-1 after Moni Nikolov served two straight service aces. By the time the Tritons crossed double digits, the Beach had 20 points, as they eventually won the set off a service error from the Tritons.

“All week leading up to this weekend in both matches had such a dialed in professional approach to what they wanted to do and they showed that in the first set,” Knipe said.

Long Beach State fell behind early but earned a 13-9 lead after Ben Braun put down a kill in the middle. But a 5-1 run from UC San Diego tied the set up at 14-14 as Peter Selcho put down a kill of his own in the middle. After it was tied at 16-16, the Beach had no intentions on giving up the lead, as they went on a 6-2 run to distance themselves from the Tritons and eventually clinch the set off a block from Braun, Dickenson and Alex Kandev.

Just like the first set, Long Beach State jumped out to an early 5-1 lead and never trailed the rest of the way. UC San Diego did what it could to try to force a fourth set, but the Beach had an answer every time, as Nikolov ended the match with a reverse dump kill to give his team the win and to give the 4,364 people in attendance at the Pyramid one last show for the season.

Skyler Varga led Long Beach State with 12 kills while Dickenson added eight kills and six blocks. Kandev added seven kills, five digs and four blocks while Nikolov had 35 assists, six kills, four digs and three service aces. The Tritons were led by Josh Schellinger who had 12 kills while Selcho chipped in six kills. Bryce Dvorak added 26 assists for the Tritons, who were without Anthony Cherfan due to an undisclosed injury and did not register a block.

It was a great match for Long Beach State, as part of a great season. UC San Diego is still strong in their own right, so never count them out. Tune in to Set Point, hosted by yours truly, on Mondays at 6PM PST/9PM EST. Be sure to check out all of the awesome shows here on IESR throughout the week. Shout out to sponsors Planet Jerky, Vital Apparel, and Seal the Deal Wax Seals, as well as all you loyal listeners who continue to support us. Thanks for reading, and we will see you next time on IE Sports Radio; your direct feed for ALL that is sports.