Match Stats
- No. 2 Long Beach State 3, Concordia 0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-21)
- Long Beach State moves to 23-3; Concordia falls to 17-11
- Long Beach, Calif.
- Attendance: 756
- Box Score
No. 2 Long Beach State played its lone match of the week on Saturday, facing off against non-conference foe Concordia and coming away with a 3-0 sweep of the Eagles. LBSU won the match 25-16, 25-22, 25-21.
Sophomore outside hitter TJ Falco was the lone player in double-digits for either side, posting 10 kills for Long Beach State. Falco hit .444 on the evening and also added a team-best seven digs and two aces. Sophomore opposite Kyle Ensing (8), senior middle blocker Amir Lugo-Rodriguez (7) and senior middle blocker Bryce Yould (6) rounded out the 49er offense. Yould also posted a team-best five blocks.
Junior middle Taylor Falduti and senior outside Andrew Hammer paced the Eagles with eight kills apiece. Senior opposite Joseph Pillon added seven. Junior libero Jacob Weiser pulled up a team-best eight digs, while sophomore setter Chandler Gibb managed seven digs to go with his 24 assists.
LBSU won every statistical category, outhitting Concordia .333 to .173 and outblocking them 6.5 to 3.5 and outserving them six aces to three.
Concordia took the early lead in Set 1 at 9-7 as Falduti turned in three kills. Long Beach State scored six straight, including four on Eagle misuces, to take a 13-9 lead. Concordia cut the margin to one four times, last at 17-16, but LBSU wrapped up the set with an 8-0 run, including four more Eagle errors. Back to back kills by Yould sealed the stanza. The 49ers hit .571 in the opening stanza.
Four different players turned in kills for LBSU to start Set 2 with a 9-6 advantage. Concordia countered with nine of the next 12 points to take a 15-12 lead of its own. Pillon piled up four kills in the stretch. LBSU called timeout, but the Eagles maintained the advantage. Down 21-19, the 49ers rallied to take the set with a 6-1 run. Ensing served up back-to-back aces in the rally, while Concordia helped the LBSU cause with a pair of errors.
After splitting the first 12 points of Set 3, LBSU used a pair of blocks by Ensing and Yould and a trio of Concordia miscues to take a 14-9 lead. Three kills by junior outside Jonathon Predney helped the Eagles pull within two at 18-16. Two Ensing putaways and two more Concordia errors pushed the advantage to 23-19. The match ended with a trio of service errors, two by the Eagles.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy: Long Beach State Athletics
LONG BEACH, Calif. — The second-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team earned its 18th sweep of the season after defeating Concordia (Irvine) in straight sets [25-16, 25-22 25-21] on Friday night inside the Walter Pyramid. With 18 3-0 victories in a single-season, the 2017 squad is now tied for second-most sweeps in program history.
With the win, Long Beach State improved to 23-3 overall, while Concordia dropped to 17-11.
Leading the way for the Beach was sophomore outside hitter TJ DeFalco who tallied 10 kills, marking his 24th double-figure kill match of the season, on .444 (10-2-18) hitting. Kyle Ensing added eight kills, while Amir Lugo-Rodriguez posted seven, and Bryce Yould registered six.
Lugo-Rodriguez was solid offensively as he collected all seven of his kills on 11 attempts without committing an attack error en route to hitting a team-best .636.
Overall, the Beach hit .333 (36-10-78) as setter Josh Tuaniga dispersed the ball collecting 28 assists in the contest. He also added six digs, one kill and a block assists.
DeFalco turned in an all-around performance as he also led the team with seven digs, while adding three assists and two service aces.
Yould and Ensing led the blocking game as Yould tallied five blocks (one solo, four assists), while Ensing put up three.
Long Beach State and Concordia started off the first set evenly trading points, but after falling behind 9-7, the 49ers rattled off six-straight points to go up 13-9. The Beach held a 17-16 advantage and managed to close the first set on an impressive 8-0 run to win 25-16.
The Beach’s offense was on fire in the opening set as they hit .571 with 12 kills on 21 attacks without an error. Meanwhile, they stymied the Eagles holding them to just .069 hitting (10-8-29) in the frame.
LBSU took an 11-9 edge in set two, but Concordia would go on a 6-1 run taking a 15-12 lead forcing the Beach to call for a timeout. Following the break in action, the Beach battled back to even the score at 19-19 after knocking down three straight points highlighted by a DeFalco ace. The game was back-and-forth until Ensing notched back-to-back service aces to give Long Beach State a 23-22 lead it would not relinquish. From there, the 49ers would go on to win, 25-22, closing out the second set on a 5-0 run.
The 49ers opened the third set by jumping out to an early 3-0 lead, however, the Eagles would fight back and even the score four more times throughout the frame until the two teams found themselves deadlocked at 6-6. Long Beach State would take advantage of a Concordia service error to go up 7-6 and lead the rest of the way before winning the set and match in the same way — on an Eagles service error. The Beach earned a 25-21 win in the third set to complete the sweep.
Taylor Falduti and Andrew Hammer were Concordia’s leading scorers with eight kills each. Chandler Gibb finished the match with 24 assists, while Jacob Weiser added nine digs, and Joseph Pillon posted a pair of blocks.
Long Beach State will close out the regular season on Saturday, April 8 when it hosts No. 14 CSUN at 7 p.m., at the Pyramid. The Beach will also be honoring their nine seniors before the match.
Courtesy: Concordia Athletics
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