Match Stats
- No. 1 Long Beach State 3, No. 5 UC Irvine 0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-19)
- Long Beach State moves to 26-3; UC Irvine falls to 20-7
- Long Beach State advances to MPSF Final to Face No. 4 Hawai’i
- Long Beach, California
- Attendance: 2489
- Box Score
No. 1 Long Beach State made quick work of No. 5 UC Irvine on Thursday, sweeping the Anteaters 25-19, 25-22, 25-19, to earn a berth in the MPSF Finals. The 49ers posted 10 blocks in the match, holding UCI to a .112 hitting percentage, while managing a .284 effort of their own.
Sophomore opposite Kyle Ensing and sophomore outside hitter TJ DeFalco posted 10 kills apiece to pace the LBSU attack. Ensing hit at a .529 clip and pulled up a team-best eight digs, while DeFalco chipped in four blocks and an ace. Senior outside Andrew Whitt followed with six kills. Senior middle blocker Amir Lugo-Rodriguez tallied a team-leading eight blocks.
Senior opposite Tamir Hershko led the Anteaters with nine kills, while senior outside Thomas Hodges followed with seven. Freshman middle Scott Stadick managed five kills, while hitting at a team-best .375 clip and adding two solo blocks. Junior outside Aaron Koubi and senior libero Dillon Hoffman led the defense with six digs apiece, while Hershko added five.
Long Beach State started the match on fire offensively, hitting at a .571 clip in Set 1. A handful of UIC miscues coupled with three kills and a block by Falco put the 49ers up 10-5 early. Up just three at 11-8, LBSU tallied eight of the next 11 points to stretch the lead to eight at 19-11. Three stuffs by Lugo Rodriguez and three more Anteater errors aided the rally. Three 49er service errors and an ace by Michael Saeta pulled UCI within five at 22-17, but the team would get no closer. A service error and putaways by Ensing and Falco ended the stanza.
UC Irvine had the early momentum in Set 2, scoring three of the first four points on going on to a 10-8 advantage. Two kills each by Stadick and Herschko and a trio of Long Beach State service miscues gave the Anteaters the lead. Three UCI errors and a kill and a block by Ensing put LBSU up 13-12. The teams tied four times, last at 16 all, before a 5-2 run gave the 49ers a 21-18 edge. A Stadick kill capped a 3-0 UC Irvine run, which knotted the score at 21. A block and two hitting errors put Long Beach State on the hill at 24-21. Another hitting miscue wrapped up the 25-22 win.
The Anteaters claimed a 5-3 lead to start Set 3, thanks to two kills and an ace by Hodges. A string of ties, last at 9-9, followed, but Long Beach State pulled away with six of the next eight points. The run included a pair of aces, one each by Josh Tuaniga and DeFalco. Two putaways by Herschko cut the margin to one at 16-15, but the 49ers sealed the sweep with a 9-4 run. A trio of blocks, two by DeFalco, helped Long Beach State to a 24-18 edge. A Bryce Yould kill ended the night.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy: Long Beach State Athletics
LONG BEACH, Calif. — The No. 1 Long Beach State men’s volleyball team earned a 3-0 sweep [25-19, 25-22, 25-19] over No. 4 seed UC Irvine in the MPSF Semifinals on Thursday night.
With the win, the Beach advances to the MPSF Championship match on Saturday, April 22 at 7 p.m. inside the Walter Pyramid where they will face No. 3 seed Hawaii, which topped No. 2 seed BYU earlier today in straight sets.
“That was a great match and a very typical MPSF match against a great opponent,” Long Beach State head coach Alan Knipe said. “UC Irvine is a great serving team, they have a lot of physical guys and they’re well-coached. So we are certainly happy to get the win tonight. I thought our guys came out ready to play and were excited to play. I thought it was a high-level game.”
The Beach improved to 26-3 on the year, marking the most wins since the 2004 squad collected 28 victories. Additionally, the 3-0 sweep over UC Irvine (20-7) is the 20th 3-0 victory of the year as the 2017 squad has now set the program record for most three-set sweeps in a single season.
“This is an incredibly close team,” Knipe explained. “It’s been a process over a few years to building that culture that we have here right now. The guys genuinely like playing the game and committing to getting better individually and collectively; and our coaching staff certainly enjoys coaching the game together as a group. I think that it shows because we’re having a lot of fun through the course of the season.”
Sophomore opposite Kyle Ensing was a key component to Long Beach State’s victory tonight has he finished the match with 10 kills and a team-leading .529 attack percentage. He also added a team-best eight digs. Joining Ensing in double-figures was sophomore outside hitter TJ DeFalco who also recorded 10 kills in the contest. DeFaclo added four blocks, three digs and a service ace to his performance.
The Beach were solid at the net as they put up 10.0 total team blocks to the Anteaters’ 3.0. Leading the way for Long Beach State was Amir Lugo-Rodriguez who posted a total of eight blocks. Lugo-Rodriguez finished the match with one solo stop and seven block assists.
Long Beach State started out strong in the first set as the Beach out-hit the Anteaters .571 (9-1-14) to .167 (10-6-24) and boasted a sideout margin of 85 percentage. Following a pair of early ties, the 49ers took a 3-2 lead on a DeFalco kill and never looked back. LBSU led the rest of the way as DeFalco and Ensing provided the offensive attack. Both were perfect through the first frame as they each knocked down four kills on as many attempts without committing an attack error. With everything working for the Beach, they came away with a 25-19 win in the first set.
UC Irvine tallied 12 digs in the frame, however, the Beach forced the `Eaters into eight attack errors for a .125 clip. The two teams battled through nine ties and five lead changes before they found themselves deadlocked at 21-21. LBSU took advantage of three straight UCI attack errors as the Beach pushed it to set point with a 24-21 lead. Long Beach State would eventually put the game away on another Anteaters’ attack error, winning 25-22.
Long Beach State took a 2-0 set lead into the third set and went on to hit .207 in the frame, while limiting the `Eaters to a hitting percentage of .061. Much like the second set, the third set was a back-and-forth affair that saw eight ties and three lead changes. However, the final tie of the frame came mid-way through the set as Josh Tuaniga’s service ace gave the Beach a 10-9 edge and sparked a 4-1 LBSU run which ended when UC Irvine called a timeout. Following the break in action, the Beach led the rest of the way and went on to win by a score of 25-19 to complete the sweep.
UC Irvine was led offensively by Tamir Hershko‘s nine kills, while Michael Saeta finished with 27 assists. Aaron Koubi and Dillon Hoffman tied for the team lead with six digs apiece.
Long Beach State will return to the Walter Pyramid for the MPSF Championship match on Saturday, April 22 against Hawaii at 7 p.m. Neither Long Beach State nor Hawaii have ever won the MPSF title before, so both will be fighting hard for the final championship before moving to the Big West Conference next season.
Courtesy: UC Irvine Athletics
LONG BEACH, Calif. – No. 1 Long Beach State swept fourth-seed UC Irvine, 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-19) in a MPSF semifinal match at the Walter Pyramid Thursday.
“I thought our boys were prepared and ready, but we had some shortcomings in execution during the match”, UCI head coach David Kniffin said. “Every time we would get close they would hold steady. Holding the No. 1 team in the country under .300 hitting efficiency usually makes you feel pretty good.”
The Anteaters, ranked fifth nationally, snapped a nine-match winning streak and are 20-7 overall. LBSU improves to 26-3 and will face Hawaii in the championship match Saturday.
Senior Tamir Hershko led UCI with nine kills and five digs followed by senior Thomas Hodges with seven kills. Senior setter Michael Saeta had three kills, 27 set assists and five digs, while Aaron Koubi and Dillon Hoffman tied for the team lead in digs with six. Scott Stadick had a team-best two blocks, both solos to move in to sole possession of the UCI single season solo block record at 25.
Kyle Ensing and TJ Defalco posted a team and match-high 10 kills for Long Beach State.
The Forty-Niners owned the net, out-blocking UCI 10-3 and out-hit the Anteaters .284-.112. The team’s .112 hitting percentage was the second lowest of the season, only behind the last time UCI played at the Pyramid (.105).
Long Beach State hit .571 (9-1-14) to UCI’s .167 (10-6-24) as the Forty-Niners won the first set 25-19. The Anteaters also had eight service errors to add to the trouble. Back-to-back kills by LBSU opened a 7-4 lead and the Forty-Niners never looked back.
UCI held a 9-7 lead in the second set before Long Beach State would out-score the Anteaters 6-3 to go ahead 13-12. A block by Aaron Koubi and Matthew Younggren would put the Anteaters back on top 14-13 then back-to-back attack errors by UCI gave the Forty-Niners the 18-16 edge. LBSU looked in control at 21-18, but UCI rallied on two Forty-Niner errors and a smash from an overpass by Scott Stadick to tie the set at 21-21. Three consecutive UCI errors followed, giving Long Beach set point, 24-21. A Forty-Niner attack would sail long before another Anteater error gave LBSU the set 25-22.
A 4-1 run by Long Beach State in the third set opened a 13-10 gap and two more UCI errors pushed the margin to 15-11. The Anteaters went on a 5-1 run which included a pair of kills by Andrew Benz and two by Tamir Hershko to close within 16-15. UCI would have two attack errors to help LBSU to build back an 18-15 lead. The Forty Niners would go on to take the set 25-19 and the match 3-0.
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