The NCAA men’s volleyball bracket couldn’t have gotten off to a better start for No. 2 Long Beach State. The Beach opened the regional round with a bye Friday as it watched No. 9 Loyola Chicago face Saint Francis at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid before proceeding to sweep Loyola Chicago on Saturday night, 25-21, 25-21, 25-19.
The win punches LBSU’s ticket to the Final Four, which will be held at Pauley Pavilion on the campus of UCLA from May 9-11. It marks the Beach’s ninth Final Four appearance in the last 10 years and the first under head coach Nick MacRae, a former longtime assistant.
“We’ve been training all year long with the end in mind, and we are in the end,” MacRae said after the win. “We’re in the NCAA Final Four, and I get to sit here with my two captains who led us tonight. We were offensively led tonight, and we get to come in Monday and strive to be a little bit better, and we’ll know who we’ll be playing.”
Saturday night’s match was the latest example of what’s been the Beach’s best volleyball down the final stretch of the season. LBSU hit .369 for the match while committing just 10 errors, and it was also one of the Beach’s more efficient nights from behind the service line with eight aces and just eight service errors.
Senior Skyler Varga is one of several players who have found their rhythm on serve recently, as the Canadian native chipped in a pair of aces while posting match highs of 14 kills on .520 hitting.
“It’s a good time to start feeling good on the serve,” Varga said. “There are lots of ups and downs throughout the year, and those lead to growth and figuring out what to do in big moments to keep the ball in and make it a challenging serve. I thought we did a good job of that all around tonight. Our big thing was just being ourselves from the end line and it worked out today.”
Varga was joined by fellow senior outside hitter Connor Bloom at the postgame press conference, and the pair shared their emotions after what was officially their final game at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid, better known to them throughout their collegiate careers as the Walter Pyramid.
“It felt amazing right from the warmups when season ticket holders already started filing in” Varga said. “It feels good seeing that support right away and they’ve always been unreal. They’re the best fans in the NCAA, or really anywhere to be honest. I’m going to miss them for sure but I’m glad we could get it done in three for them tonight.”
“I’m still waiting for that feeling of it really being the last one,” Bloom added. “I think I’ll probably drive away from the Pyramid tonight and it’ll hit me. It’s a bitter sweet feeling. I’m just glad I’ve been able to play here for so long and have the experiences that I’ve had in this gym.”
The Beach trailed throughout the middle of the first set but was strong at both the start and finish. Both teams hit well in the frame, with LBSU edging Loyola Chicago .480 to .400, and the Beach closed on a 7-2 run, capped by a Jackson Cryst ace at set point.
LBSU then dominated the second set, led by Cryst and the Beach’s strong serving. The Beach led by as many as seven and had just one service error with four aces, including a pair of back-to-back aces from Cryst as LBSU built its lead. Varga put down his tenth kill of the evening at set point to give the Beach a two set lead.
Despite knotting the score with Loyola Chicago 11 times in the third set, LBSU was in control for virtually the entire final period and eventually pulled away to close it out. The final tie came at 18-18 before the Beach closed on an 8-1 run with Varga behind the service line, as the senior put down his second ace of the night at match point.
Bloom also had a nice night at outside alongside Varga with 12 kills on .435 hitting and six digs. Setter Jake Pazanti dished out a match-high 36 assists and was in on a team-high three blocks. Freshman opposite Wojciech Gajek chipped in nine kills on .182 hitting.
The Beach will open the Final Four with a matchup against either USC or Hawai’i on Saturday, with a chance to advance to a second straight national championship. On the other side of the bracket, UC Irvine will face Ball State in the semifinals, with the championship set for next Monday.
