No fewer than 17 current and former men’s volleyball standouts across The Big West are on long-list rosters for the 2025 FIVB Men’s Volleyball Nations League (VNL), with representation on seven of the 18 participating countries’ rosters.
Eight of the 30 men on the U.S. Men’s National Team's long-list roster holds ties to The Big West, featuring a competitive mix of Olympic veterans, seasoned pros, and rising stars representing four Big West programs.
A trio of Long Beach State alums in libero Mason Briggs, opposite hitter Kyle Ensing and middle blocker Shane Holdaway are joined by the CSUN duo of opposite hitter Kyle Hobus and middle blocker Daniel Wetter. Hawai’i is represented on the US listings by middle blocker Patrick Gasman and rising junior setter Tread Rosenthal. UC Irvine outside hitter Nolan Flexen rounds out the eight who will be wearing the red, white and blue in the international competition.
Rosenthal, Hobus and Holdaway will be making a first appearance for the senior U.S. National Team. Previous NORCECA participant Flexen joins repeat VNL athletes Briggs, Gasman and Wetter on the court. Ensing was Team USA’s official alternate at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and competed on the Tokyo 2020 team.
Volleyball legend Karch Kiraly has moved over from the women’s program to guide the men. He will select 14 athletes from the long-list to compete at each stop: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (June 11-15), Hoffman Estates, Ill. (June 25-29), and Chiba, Japan (July 16-20). Four Big West names – Briggs, Gasman, Hobus and Flexen – will be on the court in Rio, with games against Ukraine, Iran, Slovena and Cuba on the Week 1 docket.
The U.S. men are currently ranked No. 3 in the world and have medaled four times in VNL history, including silver medals in 2019, 2022 and 2023 and bronze in 2018.
The Bulgarian squad sees five Big West men on the roster, headlined by 2025 AVCA and Big West Player of the Year Moni Nikolov and brother Alex Nikolov, who earned 2023 AVCA and Big West Player of the Year honors,when both were competing for the Beach as freshmen. Reigning 2025 National Collegiate Volleyball champion players from LBSU, Lazar Bouchkov and Alex Kandev are also joined by Hawai’i standout and national runner-up Kristian Titriyski in playing for Bulgaria.
Francesco Sani (UCI - Italy), Simon Torwie (LBSU - Germany), Skyler Varga (LBSU - Canada) and Guilherme Voss (UH - Brazil) are also taking to the court for their respective homelands.
The world’s top 18 men’s teams clash over three weeks of preliminary play around the globe, with the top eight advancing to the final round, set to take place July 30-Aug. 3 in Ningbo, China. Last year, France beat Japan for the title with Poland and Slovenia matching up in the third-place showdown. Matches will be shown live and on-demand on VBTV. Complete rosters and schedules can be
found here >>>
In addition to VNL, three current Big West student-athletes are on the 21-player U.S. U23 National Team roster as they ready for international competition this summer. They are Matadors Donovan Constable and Jalen Phillips as well as UC Santa Barbara rising redshirt sophomore George Bruening.