Men's volleyball game of the week: No. 2 Long Beach State at No. 1 UCLA

Tough act to follow: those are the only words that can describe the last time these two faced off when UCLA pulled off the reverse sweep against Long Beach State at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid on Feb. 6.

These two meet again at the top of the men’s volleyball world, both of which are reserving their schedules for one final head-to-head in the regular season.

The unbeaten Bruins sport four other ranked victories and have not lost at the Pauley Pavilion since the meeting before last, back on Feb. 12 of last year.

The Beach, on the other hand, has not lost besides the aforementioned reverse sweep and looks to continue its momentum as the defending national champions.

Last time out: Anatomy of a reverse sweep

The Beach defense was on fire in the first set, forcing eight attack errors to give the Bruins a -0.136 hitting percentage. Eight overall Long Beach State digs also played a contributing factor in holding UCLA to just five kills.

The second set was decided by just three points as Long Beach State rattled off a 4-0 scoring run to get into the red zone, carrying over a timeout near the end. The Beach converted two sideouts, including the set point coming off outside hitter Alex Kandev’s fifth kill of the match.

Enter the comeback.

Up to that point, the Bruins operated on a .067 hitting percentage after notching 11 kills in the second set. Solid offense would have to play a factor for the surge of a lifetime on the road.

UCLA would get what they wished for in the final two sets, recording only one attack error in 45 attempts and shutting down the Beach block completely.

The Bruins’ 23 kills in that stretch led to a .489 hitting percentage for that and brought up their match number to a respectable .254.

The hands behind the killer offense came from none other than AVCA first team All-American setter Andrew Rowan, who had 31 of his 45 assists in the final three sets.

Outside hitters Zach Rama and Sean Kelly filled the stat sheet with a combined 35 kills, as Kelly ended the night on a double-double with 11 digs to boot.

The defense showed up to anchor the comeback in the third set, however, using the help of 10 digs to hold Long Beach State to a .200 hitting percentage.

The Beach attack would only continue to deteriorate as their set-by-set hitting percentage steadily declined to the negatives by the fifth.

Where the two have gone from there

Neither team skipped a beat after the clash, sweeping past their opponents. They enjoyed sweeps over Vanguard, with UCLA going on the road and holding them out of the red zone.

The Bruins then took another piece out of the Big West with a home sweep of No. 17 CSU Northridge. The attack, albeit a bit more spread out this time around, contributed to a .400 hitting percentage for the ninth time out of 11 matches this season for UCLA.

Opposite hitter David Decker eased back into the attack after a negative performance against the Beach, notching back-to-back matches with double-figure kills for the first time in his career.

On the other side, the Long Beach State block stepped up with 10 blocks in the sweep over Vanguard last Saturday. Kandev continued to prove his clutch factor, forcing the would-be match point on his ninth kill.

The lack of an effective solo blocker might hold the Beach back, however, as their lone two over the last five matches came in the five-set loss to the Bruins. Kandev’s versatility up front accounted for one of these, while the other was from opposite hitter Skyler Varga.

Quick picks: Revenge factor or ride the wave?

It’s clear the Bruins were sore over their season ending the way it did in 2025, but after the latest head-to-head win, it begs the question: are they satisfied?

If Kandev and Varga continue to get in on the block for the Beach, they’ll get to take over this match and get back to a big win ahead of their final matches before Big West play.

The top-notch service game for Long Beach State will need to continue rolling as well, currently leading Division I-II with 2.94 aces per set. That will have to play a huge factor in preventing sideouts on Friday.

On the other hand, if Rowan continues to supply the attack, namely feeding Decker and Rama at the pins, it’ll look a lot like the early February match.

Neither side will get to cruise in this one. The Beach has to clean up the mistakes, but the Bruins have looked like a well-oiled machine throughout 2026. That won’t change here as UCLA notches a four-set win at home.

First serve is set for 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and you can catch the online stream on Big Ten Plus.

Bryan Portney is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email bep5295@psu.edu.