LONG BEACH, CA–No. 4 Long Beach State swept visiting NJIT, 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 26-24) Friday night in men's volleyball non-conference action inside Walter Pyramid.

Long Beach State hit an impressive .412 for the match and combined for 13.5 team blocks, improving to 7-2 on the season while the Highlanders moved just below .500 at 5-6.

Long Beach State redshirt junior Aidan Knipe logged a match-best 26 assists to go along with four digs, and one block assist. Sotiris Siapanis and Spencer Olivier led the offensive attack with 11 kills each while Simon Torwie and Clarke Godbold added seven and six kills, respectively in the win.

NJIT was led by sophomore Alessandro Negri's 17 kills on a .324 attack percentage (17-6-34). Negri also led the Highlanders with six digs to go along with an ace. Graduate student Roque Nido finished the match with 24 assists and five digs.

The third set was the closest between two teams that saw 12 ties and four lead changes. Both teams went on scoring runs throughout the set. 

With a one-point advantage 19-18, Long Beach State used a 3-0 run to pull ahead, 21-19, resulting in an NJIT timeout. From there, the Beach pushed the game to match point, 24-22.

The Highlanders answered and scored back-to-back points to even the score at 24-all resulting in a timeout by Long Beach State. Out of the timeout, Long Beach State scored consecutive kills to secure the 26-24 win in the third frame for a 3-0 sweep.

The two teams will be back in action on Saturday, February 18 at 7:30pm (PT)/10:30pm (ET).  The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.