MALIBU, Calif. — No. 2 Long Beach State men’s volleyball passed its first top-10 test of the season on Friday night, earning a four-set road win at No. 6 Pepperdine to remain unbeaten at 8-0 overall.<\/p>\n
The Beach set the tone early in the opening frame, using steady sideout play to build separation late. Skyler Varga<\/a> and Ben Braun<\/a> each put down key kills during a late run, while Jake Pazanti<\/a> kept the offense balanced to prevent Pepperdine from gaining momentum. Long Beach State closed the set on a strong finish to take a 25-20 lead and establish control.<\/p>\n Pepperdine responded in the second frame, using a mid-set surge and added pressure from the service line to flip momentum and even the match with a 25-20 decision.<\/p>\n The third set was a battle of resolve. With the score locked and pressure rising on every rally, Skyler Varga<\/a> delivered key swings in transition to keep the Beach level, while Daniil Hershtynovich<\/a> stepped to the line for a critical service ace during the closing stretch. After trading points deep into extra play, Alex Kandev<\/a> sealed the set with a service ace, giving Long Beach State a 30-28 win and shifting momentum firmly in the Beach’s favor.<\/p>\n The fourth set followed a similar script, featuring constant swings and double-digit ties deep into the frame. Daniil Hershtynovich<\/a> provided a spark with multiple kills in tight moments, while Long Beach State’s block, highlighted by touches from Varga and Jackson Cryst<\/a>, slowed Pepperdine’s offense down the stretch. With the score knotted late, the Beach elevated defensively and closed the door on a 27-25 finish, sealing the road victory in one of the toughest environments they will face this season.<\/p>\n Skyler Varga<\/a> led all players with 18 kills while hitting .417 and added eight digs and three block assists. Daniil Hershtynovich<\/a> finished with 15 kills and seven digs, while Ben Braun<\/a> chipped in six kills and key touches at the net. Setter Jake Pazanti<\/a> directed the offense to 51 assists as Long Beach State totaled 55 kills and hit .300 as a team.The Beach created separation at the service line as well, recording 10 aces.<\/p>\n Through eight matches, Long Beach State is hitting .407 as a team and holding opponents to a .175 clip while averaging 12.65 kills per set.<\/p>\n The win marked the team’s first top-10 victory of the season and its third road win overall. The undefeated Beach will next take on fellow unbeaten No. 1 UCLA on Friday, February 6, in their first rematch since the 2025 National Championship won by the Beach. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MALIBU, Calif. — No. 2 Long Beach State men’s volleyball passed its first top-10 test of the season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-158029","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\/158029","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=158029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}