More than a dozen Long Beach natives and Long Beach State athletes have been competing across the globe this summer at the Men’s Water Polo World Championships and in the Volleyball Nations League.
Men’s Water Polo World Championships
The USA Men’s Senior National Team is in Singapore for the Water Polo World Championships, featuring four Olympians from Long Beach: Hannes Daube, Chase Dodd, Ryder Dodd, and Max Irving. The coaching staff also includes Gavin Arroyo, head coach of the Long Beach State men’s water polo team.
The team finished group play at the World Championships last week with an undefeated record after a 26-6 win over Singapore. The win featured four goals from both Ryder Dodd and Irving while Chase Dodd and Daube each had two.
USA suffered its first defeat of the season in the quarterfinals on Sunday in a 14-9 loss to Serbia. Chase Dodd and Daube each scored two goals in the loss, while Ryder Dodd and Irving added one apiece.
The loss sends Team USA off to the 5th-8th place bracket against Croatia on Tuesday.
Volleyball Nations League
The Volleyball Nations League wrapped up its men’s preliminary phase last week, which had begun the month prior with nine current and former Long Beach State athletes representing four different countries.
The elimination rounds will begin next week without any Long Beach athletes competing, but all four countries with LBSU alumni finished in the top 15 of the VNL’s final rankings.
Bulgaria finished 11th overall in the final standings and featured four LBSU athletes: Alex Nikolov, Moni Nikolov, Lazar Bouchkov, and Alex Kandev. The team finished with a 6-6 record and won their last three matches including an upset of No. 1 Poland.
Moni Nikolov was sidelined against Türkiye in week two after a scary ankle injury but managed to make his return two weeks later against Cuba. The 18-year old setter finished the VNL season with 18 successful sets per game and 50 total points.
Alex Nikolov started all 12 games for Bulgaria and averaged nearly 15 kills per game. He recorded a VNL season-high 24 kills against Germany and finished the season with 15 total blocks and 16 aces.
USA finished a spot behind Bulgaria in the final rankings at No. 11. The team featured three LBSU alumni in Mason Briggs, Kyle Ensing, and Shane Holdaway. USA finished the VNL season an even 6-6.
Briggs and Ensing each appeared in eight matches for Team USA, playing at libero and outside hitter, respectively. Ensing averaged nearly three kills per match and recorded 10 kills in matches against China and Argentina.
Canada finished two spots behind team USA at No. 13 with a 5–7 record. Current LBSU athlete Skyler Varga quickly became a go-to hitter for Canada, finishing the VNL season with over six kills per match through 10 matches. He saved his best performance for the final match against Ukraine, where he led Canada to a win with 27 points and 24 kills.
Simon Torwie played in all 12 matches for Germany, which finished No. 14 in the VNL’s final rankings. Germany also posted a 5-7 record and Torwie contributed over six points per match.
