The Long Beach men's volleyball team's 20-game winning streak from the start of the season came to an end after No. 5 UC Irvine defeated No. 1 Long Beach State 3-0 (27-25, 25-19, 25-19) in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,676 spectators.
This is a new record for spectators at the Walter Pyramid, who watched a spectacular high-level match that ended in a victory for UC Irvine (15-4, 1-2 in Big West).
Skyler Varga led Long Beach State (20-1, 2-1 in Big West) with 13 kills on .391 hitting, but the Beach faced 7.5 blocks from UC Irvine (Long Beach did not have a single block point! editor's note), and their opponents also recorded 8 aces, complemented by a .472 hitting percentage, committing only four errors throughout the match.
Two consecutive aces from Moni Nikolov gave Long Beach State an early boost. UC Irvine tied the score after a Daniil Hershtynovich error, but Long Beach State took the lead again thanks to a kill from Moni Nikolov. With Long Beach State leading 15-13, UC Irvine went on a 4-0 run with serves from Hilir Henno to take the lead for the first time in the set. Long Beach State tied it at 20-20 with a kill from Sebastiano Sani and then earned a set point with a kill from Varga at 24-23. However, UC Irvine managed to defend and close out the first set with a block from Nolan Flexen and Mika Hakala.
In the second set, UC Irvine dominated, limiting Long Beach State to a .091 hitting percentage. The Anteaters took a 13-6 lead after an ace from Hakala, and at 22-19, they finished the set with three consecutive points.
UC Irvine started the third set with a strong 4-0 run and, after another ace from Hakala and William D'Arcy, led 18-9. Long Beach State cut the lead to 21-16 with a third ace from Moni Nikolov, but UC Irvine closed out the set and the match 25-19.
The Bulgarian national player finished with 7 points (3 aces), having flawlessly set his attackers 32 times, registered 5 service errors, 5 digs, and no successful blocks.
The rivalry between the teams will continue at the Bren Events Center with a rematch on Saturday.
