UCLA to face Long Beach State in all-SoCal showdown for NCAA men's volleyball title

Before Mason Briggs greeted his teammates, he had to salute the true force behind Long Beach State’s epic five-set thriller on Thursday.

“You!” the Long Beach State libero shouted at the black-and-gold-clad fans seated opposite of the team’s bench. “You!”

A hometown crowd fueled Long Beach State to a dramatic reverse sweep to advance to the national championship game, stunning No. 3 seed Grand Canyon 24-26, 26-28, 25-18, 25-23, 15-10 on Thursday at Walter Pyramid. The second-seeded Beach, hosting the NCAA tournament for the first time since winning it in 2019, will face No. 1 seed UCLA on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN) after the Bruins survived their own five-set semifinal thriller.

UCLA kept its repeat bid alive with a see-saw 22-25, 25-20, 25-16, 18-25, 15-12 win over No. 4 seed UC Irvine. Although the expanded eight-team field resulted in four drama-free sweeps in the quarterfinals Tuesday, Thursday’s semifinals delighted with two matches that totaled five hours and 15 minutes.

“Wow,” Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe said with an exhale. “I think both the matches tonight lived up to what everybody was hoping that the four best teams in the country would deliver.”

Grand Canyon, which won its first MPSF tournament championship and the first NCAA tournament game in program history in the quarterfinals Tuesday, needed five set points to clinch the first set and four more in the second to secure the two-set lead. Long Beach State (27-2) fell behind 11-8 in the third set. The packed crowd at the Pyramid, where the Beach was a perfect 17-0 this season, grew anxious.

Even when the Beach scored a point on an awkward miscommunication by Grand Canyon that resulted in the ball falling between multiple players on the Lopes’ side, the home crowd stayed quiet.

Briggs wouldn’t allow it.

The country’s best libero waved his arms toward the crowd, shouting for more noise. Grand Canyon coach Matt Werle said the moment “really popped our bubble.” The Beach scored five straight points.

After Nathan Harlan stuffed GCU All-American Gianni Camden on a monstrous solo block to put Beach up 13-11, the Long Beach State senior held a finger to his ear while soaking in the thunderous roar.

“I couldn’t hear anything,” said Harlan, who came off the bench for eight kills and three aces. “I couldn’t even hear my own thoughts.”

Read more: Alan and Aidan Knipe steer Long Beach State's push for national volleyball title

Sophomore opposite Skyler Varga had a career-high 20 kills with five blocks. He climbed into the stands and took photos with fans, high-fiving two young girls. A group of fans chanted his name as he walked off the court.

“You could feel the crowd, not just hear them,” Knipe said. “That was huge. The guys, that helped push them through. Maybe when other teams could hear the bus running already, they weren't. They wanted to get back in the fight.”

The Bruins (25-5) had to fight back from an early deficit after inconsistent passing led to a first-set loss. UCLA found a rhythm and won the second and third sets comfortably, but the Anteaters (20-11) fired right back by swinging away from the service line to win the fourth.

The Bruins hadn’t experienced a match with so many drastic momentum swings this season, head coach John Speraw said. Still, the defending champions weren’t rattled, finding comfort in senior outside hitter Ethan Champlin’s message to “look each other in the eyes.”

“Looking at each other in the eyes helped us understand that we aren't doing this alone,” middle blocker Merrick McHenry said. “No one's expecting you to go out there and win this match by yourself.”

McHenry, the MPSF player of the year, was “unstoppable,” Speraw said, with 10 kills on 14 swings and six blocks. His only two hitting errors were one attack that floated just wide and once when he hit into a block. Champlin notched a season-best 19 kills with 13 digs. Sophomore Zach Rama came off the bench late in the fourth set and delivered two kills, including a clutch play that tied the fifth set at 10-10. The Bruins won six of the last eight points.

After Champlin’s game-winning kill grazed the top of the UC Irvine block and soared out, Rama jumped into a celebratory huddle with his teammates as they bounced with their arms wrapped around one another's shoulders. Exhausted after the two-and-a-half-hour nail-biter, UCLA’s Cooper Robinson doubled over with his hands on his knees. UCLA libero Matthew Aziz pulled his jersey over his face.

On the other side of the net, UC Irvine players tried to hold back tears while wrapping one another in emotional embraces.

Irvine star Hilir Henno had 22 kills, nine digs and an ace one day after he was named AVCA collegiate national player of the year. The Anteaters fought through an early injury to starting outside hitter Akhil Tangutur, who injured his left leg after landing awkwardly on a first-set kill. Outside hitter Nolan Flexen had 13 kills while middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev tallied 11.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.