For the second consecutive season, Long Beach State was voted atop the 2025 Big West Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Beach are coming off a national championship runner-up finish and The Big West title in 2024, looking to defend their crown and again represent the league on the national stage.  
 

Each head coach and a student-athlete take to the national airwaves in the 2025 Big West Men's Volleyball Preview, presented by the Hawaiian Islands premiering on ESPN+ today at noon PT/10 a.m. HT. Rob Espero is joined by The Big West's Chloe Clark as the duo provide expert insight and analysis and discuss the upcoming season across the powerhouse Big West. 

The Beach earned top billing with four first-place votes and 24 total points in the voting, edging out 2024 Championship runners-up and National Collegiate Championship semifinalists as an at-large participant, UC Irvine. The Anteaters tallied 21 points and picked up the remaining two first-place votes in the vote of the league's six head coaches.  

Individually, strength is seen across all six squads as each team claims at least one spot on the Preseason Coaches' Team. 

Coming off a 27-3 season with a 9-1 mark in league play a year ago, Long Beach State placed three on the preseason team with upperclassmen attackers Sotiris Siapanis and Skyler Varga earning distinction. The two hitters are joined by freshman phenom in setter Moni Nikolov, the lone first-year player to make the listings. The name might sound familiar, as Moni is the younger brother of former Beach standout and 2022 AVCA Player of the Year, Alex Nikolov.  

Siapanis, a senior from Limassol, Cyprus, is coming off an All-American season which saw the outside hitter contribute 3.18 kills per set on an effective .342 hitting percentage. Varga added 2.98 kills per set with 82 total blocks in The Big West championship season. The redshirt junior opposite hitter adds to the international flair on the preseason team, hailing from Muenster, Saskatchewan. Nikolov hails from Sofia, Bulgaria, and is touted as one of the world's top setters. The frosh is a nine-time national championship in his age group in Bulgaria. 

UC Irvine is represented on the preseason team by Maxim Grigoriev and defending AVCA Player of the Year Hilir Henno. A senior outside hitter from Pornichet, France, Henno paced the nation in points per set in 2024, with a 5.52 average while leading The Big West with a .373 hitting percentage and adding 33 service aces. Powered by the play of Henno, UCI led the country in kills (13.24) and assists (1253) per set. Grigoriev provided 103 total blocks for the Anteaters while averaging 2.99 points per set on the season. The junior middle blocker from Walnut Creek, Calif., was the 2023 Big West Freshman of the Year. UCI (20-11, 7-3 BW in 2024) was edged by eventual national champion UCLA in the semifinals after the runner-up finish at The Big West Championship.  

Third place in the preseason poll is claimed by perennial powerhouse Hawai'i, who compiled 18 points in the voting. The Rainbow Warriors are represented on the Preseason All-Big West team by sophomore setter Tread Rosenthal. Tabbed The Big West Freshman of the Year in 2024, In a first collegiate season, the Austin, Texas, native averaged 10.08 assists and 1.50 digs per set while serving up 41 aces. UH is coming off a 23-7 campaign. 

The trio of UC Santa Barbara (12 points), CSUN (8) and UC San Diego (7) round out the polling entering 2025. 

UCSB's preseason team honoree is redshirt senior Geste Bianchi. Bianchi, an opposite hitter from Laguna Beach, Calif., led the country in kills per set in 2024, averaging 4.82 strikes per frame while tallying 5.48 points per set, which trailed only Henno in the national rankings. Senior setter Donovan Constable of CSUN is the third assist-man on the nine-member preseason listings after averaging 9.88 assists per set and a .358 hitting percentage for the Matadors last spring. Rounding out the individual honorees is UC San Diego senior Anthony Cherfan. The opposite hitter from Los Angeles provided 3.13 kills per set for the Triton offense with 61 total blocks in a first year at UCSD after playing the previous two seasons for BYU.  

Coaches are joined by a student-athlete to talk about their respective teams heading into the season in tthe upcoming premier of the 2025 Big West Men's Volleyball Preview, presented by the Hawaiian Islands. Fans can catch extended interviews of the coach/player duos on The Big West's YouTube channel as the show airs live on ESPN+. 

The 2025 season gets underway on Friday, Jan. 3, with Long Beach State, Hawai'i and UC San Diego hitting the teraflex in the season-opening weekend. Then, host UC Santa Barbara is joined by UC Irvine and CSUN in the field of the annual Asics Invitational beginning on Jan. 9 to open their 2025 slate.  

The first date of the 10-match, double-round-robin Big West slate is set for Friday, Feb. 28, as Hawai'i hosts UC Irvine at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center, the home of The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship on April 24-26. All six conference members will return to O'ahu to vie for The Big West's automatic berth into the national postseason bracket. The complete upcoming 2025 Big West men's volleyball schedule can be found here >>> 

Taking home the first four national championships when The Big West began sponsoring men's volleyball in 2018, the league is looking to get back to its winning ways after UCLA claimed the previous two national crowns over Hawai'i in 2023 and Long Beach State in 2024. With the Beach and the 'Bows claiming back-to-back national collegiate titles around the pandemic-shortened 2024 season, The Big West has enjoyed at least one national finalist in each of the last six seasons.