No. 1 UCLA Beats No. 2 LBSU, 3-1

Friday, February 20

7:00 pm (PT)

UCLA

12-0,3-0MPSF

Long Beach State

9-2,0-0Big West

Long Beach St.

UCLA

Photo by: Misha Hebert

No. 1 UCLA Beats No. 2 LBSU, 3-1

February 20, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights

LOS ANGELES – The No. 1 UCLA men's volleyball program beat No. 2 Long Beach State 3-1 inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial, and improved to 12-0 on the season. Set scores were 25-15, 23-25, 27-25, 26-24.

With the win, the Bruins (12-0, 3-0 MPSF) improve to 2-0 against Long Beach on the year, and have now won 12 games in a row.

As a team, UCLA hit. 447 on the night as Cameron Thorne and Sean Kelly tallied 13 kills each to pace the Bruins. Zach Rama also finished in double-figure kills with 12. Long Beach State's (9-2, 0-0 Big West) Skyler Varga led all players with 18 kills.

Defensively, libero Chris Connelly had six digs while Thorne added six blocks to help the Bruins force Long Beach to hit .277 on the night.

In the opening set the Bruins raced out to a 25-15 set one win. UCLA hit .667 in the set and extended the lead to 8-2, forcing a Long Beach State timeout. The Bruins then pushed out to a 10-4 lead when Rowan found Micah Wong Diallo. An ace from Rowan made it a 15-9 game, forcing another LBSU timeout.

Another ace, this time from David Decker, made it a 20-12 UCLA advantage. A Thorne kill of a dish from Rowan made it 24-14, before a Varga service error gave the Bruins the opening set, 25-15.

As for the second set, Long Beach opened up a 6-4 advantage before the Bruins rallied off three straight points. Rowan found Wong Diallo, then Rama, before a block from Wong Diallo and Rama pushed UCLA in front 7-6.

The teams went back and forth from there, as neither team established more than a two point lead, before Long Beach took the set 26-24.

With the score tied at 1-1, the Bruins responded in the third set. A block from Thorne and Rowan pushed UCLA up 11-8 in the set before a kill from Thorne pushed the advantage to 12-9.

Long Beach rallied back and tied the set at 17-17, as the sides traded points late in the set. A kill from Rama made it 23-23 before he re-tied the set at 24-24. An attack error from LBSU made it 24-24 Bruins, before LBSU tied it at 25-25.

Rowan found Thorne to make it set point for the Bruins at 26-25. Thorne and Kelly then combined for the block to give the Bruins the third set, 27-25.

With a 2-1 sets lead the Bruins started the fourth set strongly, taking a 13-9 lead off another Thorne kill. Long Beach responded and got within one point, at 18-17.

A Kelly kill pushed UCLA out to a 21-19 lead, before LBSU took three of the next four points to tie the set at 22-22.

With the score tied at 23-23, Rama tallied his 12^th kill of the night to make it a 24-23 advantage for the Bruins and match point. Each team followed with a service error, giving UCLA match point at 25-24. The Bruins then won the match courtesy of a LBSU attack error, taking the set 26-24, and the match 3-1.

Up Next: UCLA hits the road next week to play at UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday evening, followed by an away match at UC Irvine on Friday evening. The match at UC Santa Barbara will be streamed on ESPN+.