No. 1 Long Beach State Falls In Four Sets At No. 3 Hawai’i In The Big West Championship

HONOLULU – No. 1 Long Beach State battled No. 3 Hawai’i in the Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, but came up short in a 3-1 [21-25, 22-25, 25-21, 22-25] setback on Saturday night at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

The Beach (27-3), which were the top seed in the tournament, will await their seeding in the NCAA Tournament, while the Bows (26-5), which were the No. 2 seed, clinched the automatic berth for The Big West.

The 2025 NC Men’s Volleyball Championship selection show will air live on Sunday, April 27 at 1 p.m. (PT) on NCAA.com.

The competitive contest saw the conference foes battle each other through 28 ties over four sets. Long Beach State led Hawaii in nearly every statistical category. The Beach held the advantage in kills (58-51), assists (56-47), aces (8-5), and blocks (8-7). The two teams were evenly matched with 24 digs apiece, while the Rainbow Warriors finished with a .411 hitting percentage to LBSU’s .342 clip.

LBSU senior opposite Nato Dickinson led all scorers with a career-high 21 kills and seven digs, while hitting .485 (21-5-33) in the match.

 

See more

That’s what we call a Tor-NATO!??? pic.twitter.com/TcRIJBLCdu

— Long Beach State Men’s VB (@LBSUMVB) April 27, 2025

Freshmen Alex Kandev and Moni Nikolov also turned in solid showings. Kandev finished the match with 12 kills on a .391 attack percentage (12-3-23), while posting a career-best with five blocks.

Nikolov, meanwhile, paced the Beach to their 27th match of the year in which they hit over .300 as he dished out 47 assists. He also added seven kills on a .455 clip (7-2-11), while logging four digs, and serving up four aces – all of which came consecutively in the third set.

The match began with both teams trading points early on. By the media timeout, Hawaii held a one-point lead over Long Beach State (15-14). Following 12 ties, the Bows scored three-straight points to take a 22-19 lead over the Beach. That lead would hold the remainder of the frame, as the Rainbow Warriors claimed the first set, 25-21.

Despite the Beach hitting .379 in the second set, Hawaii managed to post a .600 attack percentage in the frame. With both teams’ efficient hitting, LBSU and UH found themselves deadlocked at 22-all. However, three-straight Long Beach State miscues helped Hawaii close the set on a 3-0 run as the Bows claimed the second set, 25-22.

Trying to avoid the sweep, the Beach got a strong serving run from Nikolov, who tallied four-straight aces to bring his career total to 94 which is just six aces short of the NCAA All-Eras record. Leading 7-2 after the 5-0 run, the Beach seemed to settle in as they jumped out in front to an eight-point advantage (12-4) thanks to a block by Isaiah Preuitt and Kandev, followed by a Kandev kill. The Bows tried to claw their way back into the set, but couldn’t come any closer than three (23-20), before Long Beach State took the third set by a score of 25-21.

 

See more

Count ’em up! That’s 3 straight aces for Moni Nikolov! ??????#GoBeach pic.twitter.com/xypPbaDV8D

— Long Beach State Men’s VB (@LBSUMVB) April 27, 2025

The Beach continued their strong performance into the fourth set. Long Beach State used a 6-0 run to jump out in front of Hawaii, 12-6, thanks to a pair of kills from Nikolov. Hawaii would go on to score five-straight points to get themselves back in the game (13-13). The Bows broke the 11th and final tie of the frame which led to a 4-0 UH run that sent the Rainbow Warriors to match point (24-20). Skyler Varga knocked down a kill to prolong the match, but Hawaii was quick to counter and win the set, and match 25-22.

Hawaii’s Adrien Roure was named MVP of the tournament after recording 11 kills on a .579 attack percentage. He narrowly missed a double-double with nine digs to go along with three assists, one block, and one ace.

Setter Tread Rosenthal finished the match with 42 assists, while adding five kills, four blocks, and three digs.

The National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship will take place at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio from May 8-12.