Long Beach State, USC players to play for Germany in Volleyball Nations League

Photo courtesy of Long Beach State athletics

The top blocker in NCAA men’s volleyball and one of the top offensive players in the MPSF will now go up against the world’s best.

Long Beach State middle attacker Simon Torwie and USC opposite Simon Gallas were both selected to be on the German roster for the upcoming FIVB Volleyball Nations League.

Torwie finished last season with a nation-best 1.60 blocks per game average and was named the National Blocker of the Year as the Beach advanced to the NCAA Tournament semifinals. The middle attacker also hit a career-high .461 that was highlighted with 10 kills and zero errors on a .909 attack percentage against Grand Canyon in the NCAA Tournament opening round.

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Gallas was in the top 15 of the MPSF averaging 2.69 kills per game, including a season-high 21 kills on a .471 attack percentage against Stanford in February. In addition, Gallas during their first full season as a starter in 2022 was sixth in the country with a 4.27 kills per game average and hit.353.

Torwie and Gallas are two of more than 25 players on the German roster. Each team can select 14 players to be on its active roster for all its matches during a week.

Germany will open the Volleyball Nations League with Week 1 matches in Canada against Brazil, the Netherlands, Italy and the host-nation Canada starting on June 8.

Germany finished the 2022 Volleyball Nations League in 12th place and failed to advance beyond the preliminary round.