Long Beach State, UCLA reach NCAA men’s volleyball title match

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For the second straight season, the Long Beach State and UCLA men’s volleyball teams will square off with a national championship at stake.

Third-seeded UCLA, chasing its 22nd national crown and looking to become the first program to win three straight in more than 40 years, will have to get past the team that spent the majority of the 2025 season atop the rankings. For top-seeded Long Beach, Monday’s 4 p.m. PT title match represents a chance to secure its fourth NCAA title and avenge a bitter defeat in last year’s final, when the Bruins beat LBSU in four sets on its home court.

Both teams took care of business in Saturday’s semifinals. Long Beach (29-3) shook off a first-set loss to defeat fifth-seeded Pepperdine, 20-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-23. UCLA (22-6) swept second-seeded Hawaii, 25-14, 25-23, 25-23.

Freshman setter Moni Nikolov, the newly minted national player of the year, broke the NCAA single-season aces record while leading LBSU into its 11th NCAA final. Nikolov came into the match just three aces shy of tying the record of 100. The 6-foot-10 Bulgarian tied and broke the mark on a pair of back-to-back aces in the third set and finished the match with five aces, a season-high 52 assists, six kills and 10 digs while quarterbacking his team to a .482 hitting percentage.

Senior opposite hitter Nato Dickinson and freshman outside hitter Alex Kandev each had 19 kills for Long Beach, with Kandev hitting a team-best .533 to go with eight digs. Dickinson hit .485 while recording five blocks, four assists and three digs. Junior opposite hitter Skyler Varga added 11 kills on a .381 clip.

The closely contested match saw 37 ties and 14 lead changes over the four sets, with both teams hitting over .400.

The first set was tight early, but Pepperdine used a 5-1 run to open a 22-17 advantage before closing out the set, 25-20. Neither team led by more than two points in a brilliant second set. The Waves used a 4-0 run to grab an 18-16 lead, but Long Beach scored three straight points after a timeout. LBSU eventually won the set, 25-23, on a Dickinson kill.

Long Beach hit an absurd .720 in the third set, with Nikolov’s record-setting ace providing a 12-8 lead. A 3-0 LBSU run capped by a kill from Connor Bloom provided a 24-18 lead and Kandev secured the set with a kill.

Long Beach hit .552 in the decisive fourth set, but Pepperdine hit .412 as the teams staged another tight battle. After 13 ties, LBSU got a few big plays from Isaiah Preuitt for a 16-15 edge. The Big West Conference regular-season champions extended their lead to 21-18 with a 5-1 run. Pepperdine answered to get within one point at 22-21, but Dickinson gave Long Beach a set point at 24-22 and his 19th kill ended the match, 25-23.

Sophomore outside hitter Ilay Haver had 14 kills and four digs while hitting .545 for Pepperdine (21-10), which put together one of its most impressive offensive performances of the season with its .421 hitting percentage.

Junior outside hitter Ryan Barnett had 13 kills on .536 hitting and freshman outside hitter Cole Hartke had 13 kills on .333 hitting to go with four digs and two aces. Graduate setter Gabriel Dyer added 48 assists and eight digs, while junior libero Jacob Reilly led the team with nine digs, and sophomore middle blocker James Eadie had a team-best four blocks.

UCLA hit .370 while holding a short-handed Hawaii (27-6) squad to a season-worst .188 mark in its semifinal.

Freshman outside hitter Sean Kelly had a match-high 13 kills while hitting .435 to pace the Bruins, who had the advantage from the service line (six aces) and at the net (11 blocks). Junior outside hitter Zach Rama added 10 kills, junior setter Andrew Rowan had 34 assists and junior middle blocker Sean McQuiggan recorded seven blocks.

UCLA used an eight-point run to open a 10-4 lead in the first set with junior outside hitter Cooper Robinson contributing two aces and a pair of kills. The Bruins’ third ace extended their lead to 16-8. They remained in control through the end of the set while hitting .417 to Hawaii’s .048 and closed it out on a Rama kill.

UCLA used a 5-0 run to take a 13-10 lead in the second set. The Rainbow Warriors tied the score at 17-all and there were five more ties before a diving save from Adrien Roure gave Hawaii a 23-22 lead. UCLA answered to reclaim the lead and closed out the set with its seventh block.

Hawaii kept shuffling its lineup searching for the right combination, but UCLA surged to a 12-6 lead in the third set. The Warriors got within 15-13, but UCLA went ahead 20-15 on back-to-back blocks. Hawaii got within 22-21 on a kill by Louis Sakanoko, but the teams traded service errors then UCLA scored the next two points, with Rowan setting up Robinson for his ninth kill to secure the match.

Roure led the Warriors with 12 kills with two aces while hitting .333.

Long Beach won both of its regular-season matches against UCLA, though both were played early in the season. LBSU won a four-set match at home on Feb. 7 then swept the Bruns five nights later at Pauley Pavilion.