HONOLULU — The top-seeded Long Beach State men’s volleyball team won its second Big West Conference championship and secured its automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament with a 3-1 victory over second-seeded UC Irvine late Saturday night at the University of Hawaii’s Stan Sheriff Center.
With the 25-23, 21-25, 25-16, 25-15 victory, Long Beach (25-2) secured its third consecutive NCAA Tournament berth and its seventh in the last eight seasons.
LBSU will host the eight-team tournament from April 30-May 4 at the Walter Pyramid, and is all but certain to be the No. 2 seed behind defending national champion UCLA (23-5), which was upset by Grand Canyon in five sets in the MPSF title match on Saturday but sits atop the RPI.
Long Beach, which is seeking its fourth national championship, will learn its seeding and opponent during the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday, which will be streamed live on NCAA.com at 1 p.m. PT. With UCLA grabbing the first at-large berth, UCI (19-10) is very likely to grab the other one and will likely be seeded in the top four as well.
Long Beach split the first two sets with UCI, before pulling away and earning a pair of dominant wins in the third and fourth sets. Long Beach State hit .355 for the match, while putting up 11.5 total team blocks and serving 11 aces.
UCI committed 20 service errors, which is tied for the second most this season by the Anteaters, and had just 3.5 blocks. After hitting .485 to win the second set, UCI hit just .049 over the final two sets while LBSU hit at a .428 clip.
Leading the way for LBSU was senior outside hitter Clarke Godbold, who finished the match with a career-high-tying five aces, while adding 17 kills on a .324 attack percentage on his way to being named the Big West Tournament MVP. Godbold also added five blocks and four digs.
Senior setter Aidan Knipe paced the offense with 43 assists, distributing the ball well and getting three players in double-figure kills. In addition to running an efficient offense, Knipe contributed eight digs, three blocks, and an ace.
Sotiris Siapanis finished with a double-double as he recorded 15 kills and 11 digs in another monster match for the junior outside hitter as he hit .500 (15-1-28) for the match. Sophomore opposite Skyler Varga added 11 kills, eight digs, three blocks, one assist, and one ace. On the defensive end, senior libero Mason Briggs logged seven digs, while LBSU middle blockers Simon Torwie and DiAeris McRaven had six and four block assists, respectively.
Long Beach hit .206 in an opening set that saw six lead changes and nine ties, the final one coming at 20-20. LBSU broke the tie and took a two-point edge (22-20) thanks a Torwie ace that forced UCI to call a timeout. Long Beach closed out the first set on a kill from Siapanis.
The second set was just as close as the teams battled through 10 ties and five lead changes. Long Beach used a four-point run to take a 17-14 lead, but the Anteaters answered with a 4-0 run of their own for an 18-17 edge. After a exchanging a few points, UCI went on a 5-0 run to send it to set point, before winning 25-21 to level the match.
LBSU found its form in the third set, hitting .333 while holding the Anteaters to a .100 attack percentage. After two early ties, Long Beach went on a 5-0 run that included three consecutive aces from Godbold for an early 6-3 lead. LBSU extended its lead to 13-7 and the margin grew to 10 points on the way to a 2-1 set lead.
Riding the momentum from the third set, Long Beach hit a blistering .524 in the fourth set and limited UCI to a .000 attack percentage. Six consecutive points, thanks to a solid serving run from Knipe, helped LBSU open a 15-5 advantage and the match ended on a kill from Godbold.
UCI was led by Hilir Henno, who posted 15 kills on a .282 clip. Setter Brett Sheward dished out 30 assists and libero Cole Power logged 10 digs.
The NCAA Tournament will feature quarterfinals on Tuesday, April 30 (beginning at 11 a.m.), before semifinals on Thursday, May 2 (3:30 and 6:30 p.m.) and the title match on Saturday, May 4 at 2 p.m. (ESPN2).
The NCAA field was expanded from seven to eight teams this year because the SIAC now receives an automatic berth. The six automatic bids went to Long Beach State (Big West), Grand Canyon (MPSF), Penn State (EIVA), Ohio State (MIVA), Belmont Abbey (Conference Carolinas) and Forth Valley State (SIAC).
