2025 Long Beach State Beach men's volleyball team

2025 Long Beach State Beach men's volleyball
Big West Regular Season Champions
NCAA Tournament, Champions
Conference	Big West Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
Record	30-3 (8-2 Big West)
Head coach	Alan Knipe (22nd season)
Assistant coaches	Nick MacRae (13th season) McKay Smith (5th season) Andy Read (2nd season)
Home arena	Walter Pyramid
Seasons ← 2024 2026 →

2025 Big West Conference men's volleyball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 1 Long Beach State  ‍†‍‍y	8	–	2		.800			30	–	3		.909
No. 3 Hawai'i  ‍‍‡‍y	7	–	3		.700			27	–	6		.818
No. 5 UC Irvine  ‍‍‍	6	–	4		.600			21	–	7		.750
No. 10 UC San Diego  ‍‍‍	3	–	7		.300			18	–	12		.600
No. 17 UC Santa Barbara  ‍‍‍	3	–	7		.300			12	–	16		.429
No. 9 CSUN  ‍‍‍	3	–	7		.300			18	–	11		.621
† – Conference champion ‡ – 2025 Big West Tournament champion y- Invited to the NCAA Volleyball Tournament Rankings from AVCA

The 2025 Long Beach State Beach men's volleyball team represented Long Beach State University in the 2025 NCAA Division I & II men's volleyball season. The Beach, led by twenty-second year head coach Alan Knipe, played their home games at Walter Pyramid. The Beach competed as members of the Big West Conference. The Long Beach State Beach lost to Hawai'i in the Big West Conference tournament. The team then received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, and went on to win the national championship versus UCLA, winning in three straight sets. This is their fourth men's volleyball NCAA championship, and their first since their back-to-back wins in 2018 and 2019.

Preseason

Coaches poll

The preseason poll was released on December 19, 2024. Long Beach State was picked to finish first in the Big West Conference standings. ^[1]

Big West Coaches' Poll

Coaches' Poll

Pos.	Team	Points
1	Long Beach State	24 (4)
2	UC Irvine	21 (2)
3	Hawai'i	18
4	UC Santa Barbara	12
5	CSUN	8
6	UC San Diego	7

Roster

2023 Long Beach State Beach roster [2]
	Defensive specialist/libero 11 Kellen Larson - Freshman 28 Chris Connelly - Sophomore 40 Ford Harman - Freshman Middle blockers 3 Lazar Bouchkov - Sophomore 5 Isaiah Preuitt - Freshman 6 Ben Braun - Junior 19 DiAeris McRaven - Senior 24 Noah Robin - Senior		Outside hitters 2 Sebastian Rodriguez - Senior 8 Sotiris Siapanis - Senior 9 Sebastiano Sani - Sophomore 10 Connor Bloom - Junior 12 Alex Kandev - Freshman 17 Dane Hillis - Junior 20 Georgi Binev - Sophomore 34 Nate Baddeley - Freshman		Opposite hitters 4 Skyler Varga - Junior 9 Nathan Harlan - Junior 10 Connor Bloom - Junior 16 Nico Lietz - Sophomore 18 Nato Dickinson - Senior 20 Georgi Binev - Sophomore 25 Ryan Peluso - Sophomore 31 Daniil Hershtynovich - Sophomore Setters 1 Moni Nikolov - Freshman 13 Island Doty - Junior 25 Ryan Peluso - Sophomore 40 Ford Harman - Freshman

Schedule

Source: ^[3]

Legend
	Beach win
	Beach loss
	Postponement
*	Non-Conference Game

2025 Long Beach State Beach Men's Volleyball Game Log (30–3)
Regular Season (26–2)
January (7–0) Date TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Sets Attendance Overall BWC Exhibition - North American Challenge January 3 - Saskatchewan* No. 2 Walter Pyramid Long Beach, California 3-0 (25–23, 25–21, 25–19) – – – January 3 - Trinity Western* No. 2 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–15, 25–17, 25–15) – – — January 4 - Calgary* No. 2 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–15, 25–20, 25–19) 157 – — January 10 ESPN+ Saint Francis* No. 2 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–13, 25–15, 25–12) 1,281 1-0 — January 15 ESPN+ at Lindenwood No. 2 Robert F. Hyland Performance Arena St. Charles, Missouri 3-0 (25–14, 25–16, 25–19) 612 2-0 — January 16 ESPN+ at McKendree* No. 2 Melvin Price Convocation Center Lebanon, Illinois 3-0 (25–19, 25–20, 25–23) 350 3-0 — January 18 ESPN+ at No. 12 Lewis* No. 2 Neil Carey Arena Romeoville, Illinois 3-1 (20–25, 27–25, 25–16, 25–23) 1,400 4-0 — January 24 ESPN+ Concordia Irvine* No. 2 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–22, 25–19, 25–15) 1,625 5-0 — January 26 ESPN+ at No. 11 Pepperdine* No. 2 Firestone Fieldhouse Malibu, California 3-2 (25–14, 24–26, 18–25, 25–17, 15–7) 630 6-0 — Silver State Showdown January 31 ESPN+ vs. Fort Valley State* No. 1 Reno Convention Center Reno, Nevada 3-0 (25–19, 25–17, 25–20) 100 7-0 —
February (7–0) Date TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Sets Attendance Overall BWC February 1 ESPN+ vs. Belmont Abbey* No. 1 Reno Convention Center Reno, Nevada 3-0 (25–17, 25–14, 25–20) 150 8-0 — February 7 ESPN+ #3 UCLA* No. 1 Walter Pyramid 3-1 (25–21, 20–25, 25–16, 25–22) 4,420 9-0 — February 12 B1G+ at No. 3 UCLA* No. 1 Pauley Pavilion 3-0 (25–23, 25–19, 25–23) 4,248 10-0 — February 14 ESPN+ Vanguard* No. 1 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–15, 25–11, 25–22) 1,763 11-0 — February 21 ESPN+ No. 8 Grand Canyon* No. 1 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–18, 27–25, 25–18) 2,450 12-0 — February 22 ESPN+ Barton* No. 1 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–14, 25–14, 25–16) 1,508 13-0 — February 23 ESPN+ Barton* No. 1 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–14, 25–13, 25–20) 1,338 14-0 —
March (7–1) Date TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Sets Attendance Overall BWC March 5 ESPN+ at No. 7 CSUN No. 1 Premier America Credit Union Arena Northridge, California 3-0 (25–22, 25–15, 25–20) 1,107 15-0 1–0 March 7 ESPN+ Sacred Heart* No. 1 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–18, 25–16, 25–20) 1,927 16-0 — March 14 ESPN+ No. 7 CSUN No. 1 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–17, 25–14, 25–18) 3,165 17-0 2–0 March 15 ESPN+ No. 19т Princeton* No. 1 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–19, 25–22, 25–19) 2,278 18-0 — March 21 ESPN+ NJIT* No. 1 Walter Pyramid 3-1 (25–9, 25–14, 23–25, 25-19 1,890 19-0 — March 22 ESPN+ NJIT* No. 1 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–18, 25–13, 25–20) 1,572 20-0 — March 28 ESPN+ No. 5 UC Irvine No. 1 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–27, 19–25, 19–25) 4,676 20-1 2–1 March 29 ESPN+ No. 5 UC Irvine No. 1 Bren Events Center Irvine, California 3-0 (25–23, 25–19, 29–27) 4,758 21-1 3–1
April (5–1) Date TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Sets Attendance Overall BWC April 3 ESPN+ at No. 16 UC Santa Barbara No. 1 The Thunderdome Santa Barbara, California 3-1 (25–23, 25–16, 19–25, 25–19) 2,243 22-1 4–1 April 4 ESPN+ No. 16 UC Santa Barbara No. 1 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–14, 25–20, 25–17) 2,921 23-1 5–1 April 11 ESPN+ at No. 4 Hawai'i No. 1 Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, Hawai'i 3-1 (25–21, 25–18, 18–25, 25–21) 10,300 24-1 6–1 April 12 ESPN+ at No. 4 Hawai'i No. 1 Stan Sheriff Center 2-3 (25–21, 20–25, 25–18, 19–25, 13–15) 10,300 24-2 6–2 April 18 ESPN+ at No. 10 UC San Diego No. 1 LionTree Arena La Jolla, California 3-0 (25–23, 25–10, 25–22) 4,000 25-2 7–2 April 19 ESPN+ No. 10 UC San Diego No. 1 Walter Pyramid 3-0 (25–12, 25–21, 25–18) 4,364 26-2 8–2
Postseason (1–1)
Big West Tournament (1–1) [4] Date TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Sets Attendance Record BWC Tournament Record April 24 ESPN+ vs. No. 10 UC San Diego (4) Semifinals No. 1 (2) Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, Hawai'i 3-0 (25–18, 25–23, 25–17) 7,209 27-2 1–0 April 25 ESPN+ vs. No. 3 Hawai'i (2) Finals No. 1 (2) Stan Sheriff Center 1-3 (21–25, 22–25, 25–21, 22–25) 8,576 27-3 1-1
NCAA Tournament (3–0) [5] Date TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Sets Attendance Overall Tournament Record May 8 ESPN+ vs. Fort Valley State (8) No. 1 (1) Covelli Center Columbus, Ohio 3-0 (25–21, 25–16, 25–16) 2,263 28-3 1–0 May 10 ESPN+ vs. No. 6 Pepperdine (5) No. 1 (1) Covelli Center 3-1 (20–25, 25–23, 25–19, 25–23) 3,342 29-3 2–0 May 12 ESPN+ vs. No. 3 UCLA (3) No. 1 (1) Covelli Center 3-0 (25–17, 25–23, 25–21) 3,063 30-3 3–0 *Non-conference game. #Rankings from AVCA Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific.

Rankings

Source: ^[6]

Ranking movements
Legend:██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AVCA	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

References

1. "Defending Champion Long Beach State Voted Men's Volleyball Preseason Favorites in the Powerhouse Big West". Big West Conference. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
2. "2025 LBSU Men's Volleyball Roster". longbeachstate.com. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
3. "2025 Men's Volleyball Schedule - Long Beach State University Athletics". longbeachstate.com. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
4. "The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship". The Big West. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
5. "2025 NC Men's Volleyball Official Bracket". NCAA.com. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
6. "Check out the latest polls for NCAA & high school volleyball". avca.org. Retrieved September 3, 2025.