Ben Braun and Long Beach State win NCAA title in men’s volleyball

Palm Desert grad Ben Braun had spent two unceremonious years on the Ohio State volleyball team that were marked by injuries, illness and no clear path to playing time, so he decided to do what so many college athletes do nowadays and enter the transfer portal.

“I had this moment where I looked at the spot I was in and it didn’t really align with what I thought I was going to do to reach my goals, so I got in the portal and I wasn’t expecting a lot,” Braun said of his decision between the 2023 and 2024 seasons. “I figured I’d end up at some random school because with injuries and illness, I just wasn’t on the court a lot for anybody to see me.”

Then a funny thing happened. Turns out Braun was wrong about the interest level he would generate.

“Like four minutes into officially being in the portal, I got calls from schools like Hawaii and Long Beach State — these top volleyball schools that I was not expecting to be getting calls from,” Braun said. “It was not what I thought would happen. I was just, I don’t know, surprised.”

Braun took a visit to Long Beach State, loved the vibe, loved that it was close to his desert home and came away impressed by the winning culture there after talking to players and coaches. It was a match.

Good decision. Flash forward two years to May 12, 2025, and Braun is a national champion. Long Beach State swept UCLA in the national championship game in three sets 25-17, 25-23 and 25-21. And making it just a little bit sweeter for Braun, the NCAA Tournament this year was played at Ohio State University.

“So it was definitely an electric experience, and to have it happen at Ohio State where I was (that) made it kind of full-circle for me. It was just an awesome feeling,” Braun said. “I was just trying to be in the moment and absorb like, ‘Yeah, this is it. This is what I’ve been wanting for a while.’ So it was a really cool experience.”

The 6-foot-11 Braun was a backup player for Long Beach State this year and played in 22 of the team’s 33 matches. He said heading into the season he felt like he was a year away from being a more prominent part of the rotation, but injuries to some of the players ahead of him at the middle blocker position pressed him into duty more than he was expecting.

He had 11 kills in a win against UC Santa Barbara on April 3 in his best statistical game. In the postseason he had nine kills in an opening-round win over Fort Valley State and added two more kills in the semifinal win against Pepperdine. The championship match win over UCLA went so fast and the starting group was in such a groove that Braun’s number was not called in the final game.

“Yeah, I really wasn’t expecting to get a lot of playing time this year. I was just here to do my job and get better at volleyball,” Braun said. “And then, you know some guys unfortunately got injured and it worked out where I could see the court a lot earlier than I was expecting, and I got some cool chances to play against some pretty good teams.”

The national title — the fourth one in Long Beach State history to go with 1991, 2018 and 2019 — came with all the usual fun trappings for Braun. He’s got a piece of the net, a small individual version of the big trophy, and the team even had a little parade two days after they won.

Braun said that was a surreal experience.

“We weren’t expecting much, I mean it was at like noon on a Wednesday, but we got on these trucks and started going on this downtown street, and instead of taking their lunch breaks all these people were lining the street and out there celebrating you,” Braun said. “Again it was like one of those moments you look back on and you can’t believe it. Seeing all the people show out for us and show how much they care, it was really cool.”

Looking forward now, Braun is looking to heal up from nagging injuries and then get right back to work. He will be back on the team next year as a senior, perhaps with a bigger role, but only time will tell when it comes to that. He’s also working toward his master’s degree in marketing analytics.

But no matter what the future holds for Braun, one thing’s for sure, he’ll always be able to call himself a national champion.

“Yeah, that’s definitely always going to be a great conversation starter,” he said. “I’ll probably have to add that to the old LinkedIn profile.”

Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.