{"id":157788,"date":"2026-01-31T07:35:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T07:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/157788\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T07:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T07:35:07","slug":"no-2-long-beach-state-fights-off-no-6-pepperdine-the562-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/157788\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 2 Long Beach State Fights Off No. 6 Pepperdine \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

The No. 2 Long Beach State men\u2019s volleyball team faced its first true measuring stick of the season Friday night at No. 6 Pepperdine, marking its first top-10 opponent and a rematch of last year\u2019s Final Four semifinal.<\/p>\n

That test produced the same result as the teams\u2019 matchup last May, as the Beach earned another four-set win despite being out-hit and finishing with half as many blocks as the Waves. Still, Long Beach State showed its signature grit while surviving a pair of extended sets to close out the 25-20, 20-25, 30-28, 27-25 victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe difference was Long Beach grit and just competing,\u201d said LBSU coach Nick MacRae. \u201cWe got through the month of January 8-0 and there\u2019s so much meat on the bone to improve on. This was a Final Four type of matchup and it\u2019s not always about the stats. It just comes down to playing harder, staying together and just trying to put a run together.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no surprise in who the Beach looked to in their semifinal rematch, as senior outside Skyler Varga rose to the occasion once again. Varga led the way with a match-high 18 kills on .417 hitting, adding a match-high eight digs and three blocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew we needed some aggression tonight, so I had the mindset of taking rips out there and seeing what I could make happen,\u201d Varga said. \u201cI know my guys are going to cover me,so I\u2019m going to swing high and it ended up working out for me. I know I have to be dialed in for these types of matches and when the opportunity comes I try to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n

After dropping just their second set of the season in the second frame, the third and fourth sets served as the true test for LBSU. The Beach even found themselves trailing 20-15 in the third set before fighting off a pair of Pepperdine set points and finishing the set on a 15-8 run to take the one-set lead.<\/p>\n

Sophomore outside Alex Kandev was in the middle of some of the Beach\u2019s struggles that led to the five-point deficit, which is when senior Connor Bloom came in to help spark the run. In a full-circle moment, Kandev was subbed back in late in the set and crushed an ace into the floor at set point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m most proud of that third set. When we were down, you either give in or you lean on our training and everything we\u2019ve prepped, which is a 0-0 mindset,\u201d MacRae said. \u201cIn that moment, Kandev had full trust in Bloom, and Bloom comes in and executes his job. Kandev gets to take a breath, and it was the perfect example of what we mean when we say we use all 17 guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teams practically traded points throughout the fourth set which featured 16 ties, and the Beach eventually found themselves down 20-21. From there, Daniil Hershtynovich and Jake Pazanti recorded back-to-back kills to regain the lead, before a Varga kill a few points later gave LBSU it\u2019s first set point. The Beach had three more match points before winning on a Pepperdine net violation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the definition of LB Grit for sure,\u201d Varga said of the final sets. \u201cThat\u2019s all it took, really. We played these guys in the fall and it was the same type of deal. I just kept saying, \u2018We\u2019re taking this set, we\u2019re taking this set,\u2019 and I think it was just about believing that we could do it even when we were down in those last two sets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first two sets were practically opposites of each other, as the Beach cruised to their most dominant set win to open the night before dropping the second. LBSU hit .417 in the first set and totaled five team aces in what was their best stretch from the service line.<\/p>\n

It was interesting to see the Beach\u2019s lineup for a one-match week after previously seeing different guys on different nights of a back-to-back, especially at opposite. Hershtynovich got the start there tonight and made his impact early and often, recording five of his 15 kills in the first set while finishing the night hitting .312.<\/p>\n

LBSU also got a nice night from a pair of freshmen including setter Jake Pazanti, who racked up 44 assists while adding four kills. Jackson Cryst added four kills as well, along with a team-high four blocks.<\/p>\n

The Beach\u2019s schedule moving forward takes no break, as they now gear up for a highly anticipated championship rematch with UCLA at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid on Friday. The Bruins are the No. 1 team in the nation, setting up a matchup between the top two teams in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew this week\u2019s going to be tough and next week is the same,\u201d Varga said. \u201cIt was hard tonight and that was a well earned win for us which I think is important going into next week against another top team. Today was great for us and I think it\u2019s going to be even better next week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl. The No.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-157788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-long-beach","9":"tag-long-beach-headlines","10":"tag-long-beach-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157788","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=157788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}