COLUMBUS, Ohio – Top-seeded Long Beach State cruised to the semifinals after sweeping through No. 8 seed Fort Valley State at the 2025 National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship from the Covelli Center.
LBSU dominated on the day, winning all three sets with scores of 25-21, 25-16, and 25-16 to move to 28-3 on the year. The Beach advance to their fourth consecutive national semifinal to take on the winner of No. 4 Loyola Chicago and No. 5 Pepperdine in Saturday’s first match slated for 2 p.m. PT.
The Beach registered 42 kills with a .367 hitting percentage, while the Wildcats managed 21 kills and hit .129 on the day. LBSU's aggressive serving resulted in six aces, with Big West single-season record holder Moni Nikolov adding three to the tally.
Big West Player of the Year Nikolov led the match with 31 assists and a game-high eight digs, with redshirt senior Nato Dickinson powering down a match-best 12 kills on .429 hitting to the lead the Beach. Junior middle blocker Ben Braun impressed with a high attack percentage of .800 with nine kills on 10 swings. LBSU closed the day with a perfect 1.000 reception percentage and saw sideout percentages in the 80s in the second and third sets.
The Beach opened the first set with a strong start, taking an early 3-0 lead with a combo block by Nikolov and Braun followed by a kill for the freshman phenom from Sofia, Bulgaria. The Wildcats managed to tie the score at points 4, 5,6 and 8 before the Beach got the lead for good in the frame. Nikolov continued to be a key contributor, recording multiple kills, including one at 11-8 and another at 18-16. Despite a late rally by FVSU, who closed the gap to 24-21 with several successful plays by Isaih Fedd, LBSU secured the set with a final score of 25-21, finishing with a decisive kill by Dickinson.
LBSU opened the second set with a strong run, taking a 4-1 lead with key kills from Dickinson and Skyler Varga, assisted by Nikolov. The Beach maintained their momentum throughout the set, capitalizing to take the 15-9 lead heading into the media timeout. Keeping the foot on the gas, LBSU was able to quickly close out the set 25-16, with Varga sealing the final point with a kill.
The Beach secured a decisive win in the third set against the Wildcats, finishing with a score of 25-16. Braun and Dickinson were again pivotal, each contributing multiple kills, with Dickinson also recording a service ace. Nikolov was instrumental in facilitating the offense, assisting on numerous points and serving up two aces to contribute to LBSU's strong finish.
The set stayed close in the early goings before a decisive scoring run, including a service ace from Alex Kandev to make it 11-7 in favor of the Beach. Nikolov fired back-to-back service aces to set up match point and dished to Braun for the final strike to finish the match in sweeping fashion.
Fedd stood out on the FVSU team, leading the squad with 14 total kills and a hitting percentage of .357 to go along with four digs. Oshane Farquharson recorded 15 assists with Constantine Ononye finishing with a team-high five digs for the Wildcats. The SIAC champions cap the season at 16-10 overall, sporting an unblemished 10-0 mark in conference play.