The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
It doesn’t always have to be close to be considered a rivalry.
The No. 2-seeded Long Beach State men’s volleyball team took on No. 3 UC Irvine in the third installment of the Black and Blue rivalry after last week’s series, but the stakes were much higher with a trip to the Big West Championship on the line. The Beach rose to the occasion, defeating the Anteaters for the third straight match in a 29-27, 25-16, 25-18 semifinal sweep.
“It was very unique playing them a third time in eight days. It’s not always how you tee it up, and you’re always prepping for adversity and counters, but these guys decided they were going to be us and absolutely compete, so I’m very proud to sit here right now,” said LBSU coach Nick MacRae. “You’ve heard me say it all year long but we’ve been training with the end in mind, and now we’re at that point.”
With the win, the Beach will advance to the Big West Championship on Saturday against Hawai’i at the Bren Events Center on the campus of UC Irvine. The rematch against the Rainbow Warriors comes after Hawai’i swept the pair’s series to open conference play earlier this season.
LBSU will head into that match with as much momentum as it’s had all year after dominating UC Irvine in every statistical category on Friday. The Beach had far fewer errors in the match and outhitting Irvine an impressive .355 to .173, while racking up 15 block assists to seven for the Anteaters.
That momentum started early on, as the Beach used a 5-1 run to start set one before UC Irvine eventually fought back to take its own lead. The set then saw 13 ties and five lead changes, including five total set points, with Long Beach earning the final three. The Beach took the set 29-27 on a UC Irvine hitting error and outhit the Anteaters .367 to .051 in the set.
“It was composure and execution late,” MacRae said of the first set, which ended up being the closest of the night. “You didn’t see our guys get rattled in that moment, and they were just striving to play, block, and compete the same way no matter what the score was. Our guys did a really good job overcoming that in that set.”
It was pure dominance in the second set, as the Beach led nearly wire-to-wire and by as many as nine at the final score. Freshman opposite Wojciech Gajek had four kills in the set for a Beach team that hit .375, and he led a five-point service run midway through the set that included an ace.
Gajek was the star of the night on offense, finishing with 10 kills on .471 hitting while sustaining long service runs, serving a match-high 17 times with three aces.
“It’s just great to play with these guys who are more experienced than me,” Gajek said after the match. “I’ve been learning a lot from them, but I’ve also been trying to provide some help for them, and I think they can learn something from me. So it’s just been us supporting each other, and we all have the same goal, which is a national championship.”
Gajek and fellow freshman setter Jake Pazanti were subbed out midway through the set for six points as Daniil Hershtynovich and Island Doty took over at opposite and setter, respectively. The foursome’s rotation has become frequent for MacRae in the final weeks of the season, as Hershtynovich and Doty appeared in the middle of every set on Friday.
“It allows us to have three front-row attackers, not that we always need that,” MacRae said. “We go through our guys and read the game, but there are some coaches out there who say, ‘This is what we’re going to do,’ so we get to have some little wrinkles in there that make it interesting for them.”
LBSU then led by as many as eight in the third set and never trailed. The set also saw a slight increase in intensity after the whistle, as senior Skylar Varga was issued a yellow card after exchanging words across the net. The Beach then secured the win just five points later with a Jackson Cryst kill at match point.
Behind Gajek’s double-digit kill night, Varga chipped in nine kills on .227 hitting and was in on three blocks. Fellow senior Connor Bloom had eight kills on .250 hitting, while Pazanti finished with 27 assists and Ben Braun had a team-high four block assists.
The Big West Championship will be at 5 pm Saturday and will be televised live on ESPN+. It’s widely assumed that either LBSU or Hawai’i will earn a bid to the NCAA tournament regardless of Saturday’s result; however, the winner will receive an automatic bid to represent the Big West.
After the match, MacRae reflected on the Beach’s two earlier matches against Hawai’i this season as they look to flip the script in the championship.
“At that point in the season we didn’t have everyone healthy, so now you see a different lineup and we’re rocking and rolling,” he said. “I think the growth we’ve made this year shows we’re the team with the most improvement and the highest ceiling. Over the past couple of weeks, you’re seeing us play our best volleyball.”
