The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2024-25 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team is heading to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament after a dominant sweep over Fort Valley State in the quarterfinals. The No. 1 seeded Beach defeated the No. 8 Wildcats in the Covelli Center of Columbus, Ohio, 25-21, 25-16, 25-16.
The Final Four appearance is the eighth for LBSU in the last nine seasons. They’ll face Pepperdine on Saturday at 2 p.m. PST after the Waves defeated Loyola Chicago on Thursday in four.
Moni Nikolov looked every bit the part of the Big West Player of the Year on Thursday night against Fort Valley State, recording eight kills on .583 hitting, along with game-highs of eight digs and three aces. He also racked up 31 assists, surpassing the 1,000-assist mark for the season.
The Beach only trailed once on the first point of the second set but led the entire rest of the game. Nato Dickinson led the way with 12 kills while hitting .429. Ben Braun had nine kills on a game-high .800 hitting.
LBSU is now in position to punch a ticket to the national championship in what would either be a championship rematch from last season against No. 3 UCLA or a highly anticipated rematch to No. 2 Hawaii. Hawaii gave LBSU two of its only three losses this season.
That will only happen if the Beach takes care of business on Saturday against No. 5 Pepperdine when they face off at 2 p.m. PST in the Covelli Center. UCLA and Hawaii will face off against each other at the conclusion of that game at 5 p.m. PST.
