The562's Long Beach State volleyball coverage is sponsored by Naples Island Car Wash. Naples Island CarWash.com You can learn more.
In the final non-conference game of the season, No. 2 Long Beach State used strong serving and effective defense to defeat No. 9 Penn State 25-17 on Friday night at Walter Pyramid. We defeated them 25-14, 24-26, 25-14. . This is Beach's fourth straight win and improves his season record to 14-1 and 5-1 against nationally ranked opponents.
Before the game, Beach honored Tom Hoff, an Olympic gold medalist and local legend who played for Beach in 1995-1996, by removing his jersey in the Walter Pyramid rafters.
“We take great pride in our program in that we expect greatness, and Tom is exactly that,” said Hoff's LBSU head coach Alan Kneipp. “He is a three-time All-American, currently works at Microsoft, and was a captain on the Olympic team. He is a living example of what our athletes aspire to be.”
Sign up for the562 on GiveButter and make a recurring donation to keep Long Beach sports coverage free!
Witnessing Beach's heroes, who outperformed Penn State in nearly every statistical category, was clearly an inspiration to many Beach players. Beach hit .346 on the night and had 15.5 team blocks, compared to just 3.0 for Penn State.
“The game became about what we could do from the last line,” Kneipp said. “I made a lot of taught serves, made a lot of great digs and hit a lot of shots in transition against a very good team.”
Sotiris Siapanis set the tone offensively for Beach with a team-high 17 kills and two aces.
“I had great coordination with my setter and did a great job of reading my blockers, which allowed me to balance my shots and continue to be aggressive,” Siapanis said.
Skyler Varga also had a big contribution on both ends of the net with 15 kills, a career-high five aces, and 10 digs. Clark Godbold also had 12 aces, and senior setter Aidan Kneipp also had 38 assists.
“I take pride in being able to generate energy for my team on defense and use that energy to help us attack,” Varga said. “By trusting our defense, we can get back to the last line.”
Beach stayed strong in the first two sets, using effective serving and good communication to pull away from Penn State and easily defeat them. The third set was much closer as Penn State came out with a sense of urgency, with Beach tying the set score at 22-22 before finally winning the key point. But in the fourth set, Beach quickly jumped out to a 7-2 lead and never looked back, leading Penn State through the rest of the set and ultimately winning.
“I think the players on our team made some great adjustments in the middle of the set. Some were tactical and some were related to effort and concentration,” Kneipp said. You're trying to improve your transfer to the court and that's exactly what happened tonight. ”
The Beaches are currently facing a turning point in their season as they move from non-conference play to Big West play, and will face the same opponents on consecutive Friday and Saturday nights until the postseason. Their first game is next week against UC Santa Barbara, at home Friday at 7 p.m., and on the road Saturday.
“The most important thing about playing the same team back-to-back is knowing that what happens one night may not carry over to the next night,” Kneipp said. “We also have to have the physicality to continue playing at a high level with less than 24 hours between games. I know our players are fired up and ready to do it.”
