Long Beach’s Nick MacRae and Aidan Knipe are headed home from Costa Rica with silver medals after a successful week at the NORCECA U19 Championship in San Jose.
MacRae is a Wilson, LBCC, and Long Beach State alum who is currently the top assistant for the defending national champion Long Beach State men’s volleyball team. MacRae, who was named the nation’s top collegiate assistant, is an assistant with the USA Boys’ Youth Team. The team’s starting setter is Knipe, the son of the LBSU men’s volleyball team’s coach and a class of 2019 commit to the LBSU program.
Knipe started every match for the USA, which went 4-2 including a championship match loss to Cuba. Knipe finished second among all setters in the tournament with 3.83 assists per set.
By virtue of the championship match appearance, the USA qualified for the FIVB U19 World Championships, which will be held in Nanjing, China in July.