{"id":124126,"date":"2026-01-07T20:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T20:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/124126\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T20:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T20:50:09","slug":"long-beach-state-mens-volleyball-2026-season-preview-the562-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/124126\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach State Men\u2019s Volleyball 2026 Season Preview \u2013 The562.org"},"content":{"rendered":"

The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It would take a lot to drain the defending national champion Long Beach State men\u2019s volleyball program of its formula for success. With four national championships\u2014three of them in the last eight years\u2014that formula has grown far beyond what any single player or coach could carry.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why there\u2019s no sense of stress for Long Beach native and new head coach Nick MacRae<\/a>, formerly a 13-year assistant at his alma mater. With the page now turned on the era of legendary coach Alan Knipe, who announced his retirement last month<\/a>, MacRae is embracing change within the program while maintaining that same successful formula.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a nice, calm dance between the two,\u201d MacRae said. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be pressure on us, but pressure is the greatest privilege. I was born and raised here, and I know the community wants us to be successful and great\u2014and that\u2019s how they should feel. Our guys train at the highest level, and they want to be successful and great. On my end and my staff\u2019s end, it\u2019s never going to be a lack of work. We\u2019re going to turn over every stone and give everything we have together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the much bigger absence for the average fan in attendance will be Bulgarian superstar Moni Nikolov, who turned professional after one of the greatest seasons the sport has ever seen. The 6-foot-10 freshman setter joined his brother as one of only two players to ever win AVCA Player of the Year as a freshman, while leading the Beach to its fourth national championship.<\/p>\n

There hasn\u2019t been anything quite like Nikolov, but the void he leaves behind isn\u2019t new for Long Beach State\u2014in just the last decade, the Beach have been awarded a nation-leading five National Player of the Year honors from four different players. And while MacRae doesn\u2019t expect a new prospect to step in and hit 80-mph serves while making acrobatic plays from the setter position, Nikolov\u2019s absence creates opportunity for others to step into larger roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe objective is not to replace Moni,\u201d MacRae said. \u201cWe have guys on our team who played last year in the biggest moments, so for the setter who steps in, it isn\u2019t their job to be Moni. Everyone else gets to raise their game, and when you bring that together with the new guys, it\u2019s all going to work itself out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long Beach State enters the season ranked No. 3 in the nation in the AVCA preseason coaches poll and once again features a Player of the Year candidate in standout senior outside hitter Skyler Varga. The first-team All-American led the team with 270 kills last season while hitting .368, and finished second on the team in aces with 33.<\/p>\n

\"127<\/a>Skyler Varga celebrates with his family after winning the NCAA National Championship.<\/p>\n

Varga is coming off a summer stint in the Volleyball Nations League, where he was the youngest member of Team Canada. He appeared in 10 matches and worked his way up the lineup before capping the season with a 24-kill performance against Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cSkyler has no ceiling. He\u2019s a future Olympian. He\u2019s the captain of our team and he\u2019s one of the world\u2019s best off the court\u2014and, as you\u2019ve seen, one of the world\u2019s best on the court,\u201d MacRae said. \u201cSkyler makes everybody around him better. He\u2019s a top one-percenter, and he\u2019s going to keep flourishing because of his work ethic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question becomes: Who will be delivering Varga the ball? MacRae has yet to name a starting setter, but redshirt freshman Jake Pazanti has seen the most time during exhibition play alongside guaranteed starters like Varga. MacRae has also spoken highly of senior setters Island Doty and Ryan Peluso, who he says will be impactful whether on or off the court.<\/p>\n

Alongside Varga, the Beach\u2019s offense will lean heavily on sophomore outside Alex Kandev, who emerged as a key piece in Long Beach State\u2019s national championship run last season. Kandev posted match highs in both the semifinal and championship matches a year ago, recording a career-high 19 kills against Pepperdine and 13 against UCLA.<\/p>\n

Connor Bloom is expected to play a key role both on the serve and as a pin hitter on either side, while Daniil Hershtynovich is set to return at opposite to open the season. Hershtynovich started for a couple of months last year as part of a revolving lineup for the Beach before his season was cut short by a lower-body injury ahead of the Big West Tournament.<\/p>\n

The Beach will also feature a promising freshman alongside Hershtynovich at opposite, as Wojciech Gajek has come along nicely behind him. MacRae has dubbed the pair his \u201ctwo-headed dragon\u201d at opposite, and Gajek was named Player of the Game after recording 16 kills in his exhibition debut against Alberta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re both an incredible one-two punch,\u201d MacRae said of the pair. \u201cWe\u2019re going to see how hard and how long you can play, and if it gets to a point where the change of speed isn\u2019t there, we can keep making adjustments. What I see is the world\u2019s greatest two-headed dragon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gajek is just one of a handful of impressive newcomers for the Beach, including fellow freshman pin hitter Myles Jordan, who recently competed with the U-19 USA National Team. Long Beach native Jackson Cryst is another freshman poised for a big year, a 6-foot-10 middle who also brings some serious power from behind the service line. The freshman is coming off a stint with Team USA after being called up to the U-21 team.<\/p>\n

Cryst is part of a powerhouse group of middle blockers for the Beach, which is by far their deepest position. That group also includes Isaiah Preuitt, who took advantage of his opportunity when called upon in the Final Four last year, as well as 6-foot-11 senior Ben Braun. Sophomore and Grand Canyon transfer Braedon Marquardt will also be in the mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the best middle group in the country,\u201d MacRae boasted. \u201cIt\u2019s incredible from a training standpoint, and it speaks to every other position group where we don\u2019t have to lock into one formula for the 2026 Long Beach State men\u2019s volleyball team. All four of them are very different, and all four of them want to win national championships. That\u2019s what makes them great, and all four of them will be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holding down the defense for the Beach will be their rock in sophomore libero Kellen Larson. As just a freshman, Larson anchored the Beach\u2019s defense last year which held its opponents to a nation-leading .209 hitting percentage.<\/p>\n

MacRae has rounded out an all-alumni coaching staff around him that includes McKay Smith, who\u2019s been on coaching staff since 2017. New additions include Amir Lugo-Rodriguez, who has coached at multiple stops across the country, and former middle blocker and LBSU assistant Matt Prosser. Aidan Knipe is currently playing overseas and will join the staff upon his return as the Beach\u2019s Director of Player Relations.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re most like the five people you surround yourself with, and I\u2019m surrounding myself with Long Beach guys that want to be head coaches,\u201d MacRae said. \u201cIt\u2019s an absolute honor to be with this group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long Beach State is set to host a gauntlet of games at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid this season, including non-conference matchups against UCLA and Penn State. The Beach begin the season this weekend with matches against Lindenwood on Friday and McKendree on Saturday, before opening Big West play with a highly anticipated pair of matchups against Hawai\u2018i at the Pyramid on March 20\u201321.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl. It would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-124126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}