UCLA, Long Beach State men’s volleyball teams ready to resume rivalry

Few rivals in college sports know each other inside and out like the UCLA and Long Beach State men’s volleyball programs.

After meeting three times in each of the past four seasons, including a split of the past two NCAA championship matches, the top-ranked Bruins and No. 2 LBSU are set to collide again on Friday night at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

“We know their team, they know us,” UCLA coach John Hawks said. “It’s going to be an exciting match.”

UCLA (8-0) will look to avenge a three-set sweep by LBSU (8-0) in the national title match last May, which prevented the Bruins from becoming the first team to win three straight national titles since their four-year run from 1981-84.

“We’ve got two historic programs, especially men’s volleyball programs, that get to duke it out,” said LBSU head coach Nick MacRae, who took over this season for Alan Knipe after he stepped down in December following 22 seasons and three national titles.

Both teams return key contributors from last season but also had major holes to fill.

The most high-profile returning players for the Bruins are setter Andrew Rowan and middle blocker Cameron Thorne, both multi-year American Volleyball Coaches Association first-team selections.

Thorne was an All-American at UCLA last season and previously at Grand Canyon University in 2024.

Rowan, a JSerra High graduate, is a three-time AVCA first-team selection for the Bruins.

“We’ve got the best setter in the country,” Hawks said of Rowan. “No question about it, and he’s very well adept at attacking blocks and understanding how to keep our hitters hot. He takes a medium pass and makes it great, and he takes a bad pass and makes it good.”

LBSU’s strength lies in its powerful and rangy outside and opposite hitters, also known as pin hitters because they attack from just inside the antennas on either end of the net.

“The pins are the ones that get the most sets,” MacRae said. “They are the biggest point scorers. Whether it be attacking, serving and blocking, pins are where it’s at.”

The most experienced of the bunch is 6-foot-7 opposite hitter Skyler Varga, a returning AVCA first-team selection who played extensively the past two seasons.

“Skylar has experienced many different Long Beach State teams and played in the biggest moments,” MacRae said.

Varga is joined by fellow Canadian opposite hitter Daniil Hershtynovich (6-9) and outside hitter Alex Kandev (6-7) from Bulgaria.

“It’s about the skill of their pin hitters,” Hawks said of LBSU. “They’re international attackers. … All of them are foreign and they just know how to play the game. That poses a challenge in itself.”

LBSU also has solid experience in the middle with Palm Desert native Ben Braun (6-11) and Isaiah Preuitt (6-7) from Happy Valley, Ore.

Kellen Larson, a sophomore libero who played at Woodbridge High, is another returning starter for Long Beach.

“All those names right there, they played in the NCAA championship and they’ve experienced winning at the highest level,” MacRae said. “Yes, they did that alongside Moni (Nikolov), and now they’ve had an entire summer and entire fall and now we’re going into our ninth match of the season, where they’ve come back and said, ‘OK’, they’re all leading in their own way.”

Nikolov came to LBSU from Bulgaria last season with lofty credentials, and the 6-10 setter didn’t disappoint, dominating UCLA and NCAA competition as a whole.

Nikolov helped LBSU win nine of 10 sets against the Bruins, none more important than the second frame of the NCAA title match last May in Columbus, Ohio, when he served back-to-back aces to turn the set around.

Nikolov went on to earn AVCA Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors and also became the first freshman to ever earn Big West Player of the Year.

With an NCAA title in hand and little left to prove at the college level, Nikolov turned professional and now stars in the Russian Superliga.

“He was a unicorn,” Hawks said. “He just made his hitters better because he was such an impactful player, whether it was from the service line or the attention he drew at the net.”

Other than the three losses to LBSU, Hawks soared through his rookie season as head coach after taking over for John Speraw, who left UCLA after 12 seasons to become the president and CEO of USA Volleyball.

Hawks couldn’t convince Cooper Robinson to return for his senior season, however. After making the 12-man AVCA first team last season and earning his degree, the Pacific Palisades native decided to play professionally in Japan, hoping the competition would better prepare him for a shot at making the 2028 U.S. Olympic team.

“If we had won the championship and we were trying to go for four in a row, Cooper probably would have come back,” Hawks said. “He had such a great opportunity to go play professionally. He’s in Japan, he’s having great success right now and I think that was the best opportunity for him to get on this Olympic team in 2028.”

The Bruins are set to host LBSU on Feb. 20, and Pauley Pavilion is also the site of the NCAA Final Four, scheduled for May 9-11.