Both No. 2 seed Long Beach State and No 4 seed UC Irvine swept through their quarterfinals opponents at the 2024 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.
The Anteaters were the first Big West squad to take to the court, facing off against fifth-seeded Penn State, winners of the EIVA, and downed the Nittany Lions in three to move to 20-10 on the year. The 20-win season is the first since 2018, which is coincidentally the last time UCI was in the national postseason.
In the battle of conference Players of the Year, UCI’s Hilir Henno came out on top, leading all players with 15 kills to go along with five total blocks. Penn State was paced by their own award winner, John Kerr, who closed with 14 kills in the loss.
Penn State jumped out to the early 7-4 lead in the first frame and maintained the advantage to make it 16-14 after an Owen Rose solo stuff. The Anteaters scored four unanswered to get the 18-16 lead which the ’Eaters would never relinquish. An Akhil Tangutur assist to Henno gave UCI their first set point at 24-22, but the Nittany Lions were able to tie it up with consecutive Anteaters’ errors. Back-to-back Tangutur strikes off the assist from Brett Sheward capped the set and gave UCI the early lead.
The second set was all Anteaters in the 25-16 effort, and UCI used that momentum to open the third with the early 9-4 lead. However, PSU was able to claw back to knot the frame at 10. UCI got back on the high side on the ensuing point and never relinquished to cap the match with the 25-19 win to complete the sweep.
UC Irvine advances to face No. 1 seed and defending champion UCLA in the semifinals, set for Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The two met twice previously in 2024, both wins for the Bruins. UCI stretched the match to a 3-2 decision at the Bren on Jan. 31 before falling 3-1 on Feb. 2 in Los Angeles. This will be a first semifinals appearance for the Anteaters since winning the title in 2013.
In the 5 o’clock semifinal, championship hosts Long Beach State made quick work of No. 7 seed and Conference Carolinas victor Belmont Abbey. The Beach ran their record to 26-2 on the year, while the Crusaders cap the 2024 campaign at 21-5.
LBSU was paced by a trio of double-figure kill efforts with Sotiris Siapanis (11 kills), Skyler Varga (10) and Nathan Harlan (10) leading the offensive efforts. Siapanis hit .625 in the match (11-1-16). As a team, LBSU outhit Belmont Abbey .447 to .129. The set scores were 25-18, 25-14 and 25-11.
Belmont Abbey opened the night with the early 5-3 lead as Ethan Rehmann and Zach Puentes combined for the block. Five straight LBSU points followed to give the home team the advantage which they would not surrender. The Crusaders again edged out to an early lead in the second at 3-2 after a Puentes strike. LBSU used a 9-1 run with Varga and Siapanis at the serve to stretch their lead to 14-6. A Varga ace iced the frame at 25-14 and sent the match into the third.
The final set was all Beach as Aidan Knipe took over the service line to open the frame with a 10-2 lead. Belmont Abbey hit –0.065 in the set as LBSU rolled to the semifinals with the 25-11 win to close out the match.
Long Beach State will tussle with the winner of No. 3 GCU and No. 6 on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the semifinal round. LBSU will be making its fourth semifinal appearance in the last five seasons. Last year, the Beach fell to eventual national champion UCLA in the penultimate round, but LBSU reached the finals in 2018, ’19 and ’22, taking home the trophy in 2018 and ’19.