LOS ANGELES >> Cinco sets on Cinco de Mayo? Few were surprised when top-seeded Long Beach State and host UCLA went five in Thursday’s first semifinal of the NCAA Men’s National Collegiate Volleyball Championship at iconic Pauley Pavilion.
The surprise was the way it happened. Beach, down 0-2 and looking bad doing it, dug deep and dug themselves out what would have been a season-ending hole. With blood — literally from Beach setter Aiden Knipe, causing a stoppage of play in the deciding Set 5 — sweat and tears of relief, Beach advanced to their third national championship match in four seasons.
Freshman hitter Alex Nikolov, named both the AVCA newcomer and player of 2022 earlier this week, put down a match-high 20 kills and sophomore hitter Clarke Godbold added 11 kills on 16 errorless swings as the Big West regular-season champion avenged a five-set loss earlier to the Bruins, 18-25, 18-25, 25-15, 25-10, 16-14. It took 2 hours and 23 minutes to validate the NCAA Selection Committee’s choice of Beach as the top seed.
“What a match,” Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe said. “I think that’s what we’ve come to get used to when we play these guys. Credit to UCLA. They played great. They put a ton of pressure on us right out of the gate. That was really kind of the whole match. They got pressure on us early and we got pressure on them late. And then it was just a race to 15.
RELATED STORY: Rainbow Warriors beat Ball State to return to NCAA volleyball championship
“I have to give my crew a ton of credit for their grit. After being down 0-2, that was one heck of a response against a really good team playing really well at that time in their building. We’ll take it. I’m proud of them. We’ll get some rest and get something to eat and get prepped to play for a title.”
For the second time in three national tournaments, the Beach (21-5) will face Big West rival Hawaii, the defending champion Warriors outlasting second-seeded Ball State 26-24, 19-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-11 in the second semifinal.
It was the first time since 2014 that both national semifinals went five sets.
For the first 61 minutes it did not look like it would be the Beach playing in the Saturday’s 2 p.m. final. The Bruins were in control on their home court and the question arose: When was the last time Long Beach State was swept in consecutive matches?
(Answer: In 2012, twice at home, by UC Irvine and then BYU when the then-49ers were coached by then assistant Andy Reed and Alan Knipe was coaching the U.S. national men’s team).
What happened? Pride kicked in and so did the game of junior hitter Spencer Olivier. He had struggled a little during the Big West Tournament two weeks ago in Honolulu and, Thursday night, he was hitting negative with no kills and three errors on six swings.
Olivier said he got some advice from former Beach player Nick Amado, now a volunteer assistant.
“Nick told me to relax and breathe,” Olivier said. “It was emotional. It was do or die for us.”
Olivier gave Aidan Knipe another option, putting down nine kills with one error on his next 11 swings.
What had been a solid serve-receive game for UCLA disappeared, along with its 2-0 lead. The Beach quickly tied it up, the Bruins seemingly tightening up and playing not to lose.
It was reminiscent of the last time the two teams met, albeit it was across Bruin Walk at the Wooden Center. On Feb. 19, UCLA was up 2-0, the Beach tied it at 2, and the Bruins pulled it out 15-12 in the fifth.
Leading 6-5, UCLA again looked like it would win the marathon. Aidan Knipe was called for a lift, apparently scraping his hand and bleeding.
Play stopped to clean up the blood and Alan Knipe considered subbing out his son, particularly after UCLA’s Ethan Champlin put down one of his 13 kills to give the Bruins the 7-5 lead.
Aidan Knipe was going nowhere. And neither was the Beach, which continued to chip away until tying it at 11, then 12, 13 and 14. A kill by Nikolov broke the 11th and final tie and Sion Torwie capped the reverse sweep with his fourth ace.
Sophomore hitter Clarke Godbold finished with 11 kills on 16 swings, hitting .688, and setting a Beach record for hitting percentage in the NCAA Tournament.
UCLA was led by Champlin’s 13 kills with Alex Knight adding 10.
Note
The Beach advance to their ninth NCAA championship final. They are 3-5 in the title match. LBSU is 5-2 when playing inside Pauley Pavilion in the NCAA Tournament. … Long Beach State defeated UCLA in five sets at Pauley Pavilion on the four-year anniversary of the 2018 NCAA National Championship in which LBSU edged UCLA in five sets at Pauley Pavilion.
