Match Stats
- #3 Long Beach State defeats #9 Pepperdine 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-21)
- Long Beach State improves to 8-2
- Pepperdine falls to 4-3
Andrew Whitt made his first collegiate start of the season a memorable one.
The Long Beach State senior hit 11 kills and 10 digs to notch his first-ever double-double and help power a sweep of fellow top-10 program Pepperdine. The #3 Long Beach State crew rolled away late with three set wins at home. Meanwhile Kyle Ensing led all players with 15 total kills.
Pepperdine’s David Wieczorek hit to 13 kills at a .312 clip for the visitors.
Video Highlights:
Press Releases:
Long Beach State:
LONG BEACH – No. 3 Long Beach State received a career performance from senior outside hitter Andrew Whitt as the Beach swept No. 9 Pepperdine by set scores of 25-20, 25-17, 25-21 Thursday night inside the Walter Pyramid.
As a team, LBSU (8-2, 4-1 MPSF) hit .418 (49-11-91), while Pepperdine (4-3, 2-2 MPSF) posted a .253 attack percentage (34-12-87). The Beach have now won five of their last six matches and improved to 3-0 at home.
Whitt earned his first start of the season and made it count as he had a career-high 11 kills and 10 digs to account for the first double-double of his collegiate career. The senior out of Laguna Hills, Calif., hit .391 (11-2-23) in the match and added a pair of blocks.
Sophomore opposite Kyle Ensing led Long Beach State’s offense with 15 kills to lead all scorers. Ensing hit .462 (15-3-26) to go along with six digs, two blocks and one ace. TJ DeFalco also posted double-figures with 12 kills, five digs, two assists, one block and once service ace while hitting .348 (12-4-23).
Setter Josh Tuaniga turned in another solid outing with 41 assists and a season-high five kills en route to hitting .667 (5-1-6) to lead the Beach. Tuaniga’s 41 assists moved him into the Long Beach State record book with a total of 1,745 assists on his career.
Defensively, Whitt and senior libero Andrew Sato paced the backrow with 10 digs apiece, while Ensing added six and DeFalco contributed five. At the net, Bryce Youldput up three blocks with Whitt and Ensing collecting two each.
Long Beach State controlled the match as it got things started in the first set by jumping out to a 14-10 lead after a DeFalco ace which forced Pepperdine to take a timeout. The Beach continued to handle the first game as they extended their lead to five (20-15) and held a steady advantage over the Waves until Ensing put the game away on a service ace to give LBSU a 25-20 victory.
After battling each other through six ties early on in the second set, the Beach broke the game open by going on a 6-1 run which prompted the Waves to call for a timeout as the 49ers went up 12-7. The break in action did little to deter the 49ers as they came back on the court and took a seven-point lead (19-12) on a kill by Whitt. The Beach held a comfortable lead the rest of the way and went on to win the second frame, 25-17.
With a 2-0 advantage over Pepperdine, Long Beach State came out in the third set and hit .441 (19-4-34) and held the Waves to their lowest attack output of the match (.156). Despite the Waves’ low hitting percentage, they managed to even the score with LBSU on several occasions before the two teams found themselves deadlocked at 20-20. However, Whitt broke the tie with his 11th kill of the match which sparked three straight Beach points to give LBSU a 23-20 lead. Pepperdine tried to mount a comeback, but Yould knocked down back-to-back kills to put the set and match away, 25-21.
Pepperdine’s David Wieczorek led the team with 13 kills on .312 hitting. Michael Wexter had a team-high eight digs, while Joshua Stewart dished out 31 assists.
Long Beach State continues MPSF conference action on Saturday, Feb. 4, when it hosts No. 7 Stanford at 2 p.m., inside the Walter Pyramid.
Pepperdine:
MALIBU, Calif.: – The 9th-ranked Pepperdine men’s volleyball team were felled by 3rd-ranked Long Beach State in Walter Pyramid this Thursday evening, dropping three straight sets with 25-20, 25-17 and 25-21 set scores.
The Waves (4-3, 2-2 MPSF) tabbed a .253 hitting percentage after posting 34 kills with 12 errors on 87 swings. Long Beach State (8-2, 3-1 MPSF) produced a .418 attack output in comparison, with 49 kills and 11 errors on 91 attempts. Pepperdine tabbed one ace and 5.0 blocks, compared to the 49ers four aces and 5.5 team blocks.
Redshirt-sophomore David Wieczorek (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) led the Waves with 13 kills on a .312 success rate. He added three digs and two blocks. Sophomore Max Chamberlain (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs HS) led the squad with three blocks and freshman Noah Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley Christian Academy) was good for the Waves’ sole ace, along with six kills and three dgis.
Senior Joshua Stewart (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory/Pacific) led Pepperdine with 31 assists, and picked up four digs, one block and a kill. Sophomore Michael Wexter (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) added six kills and a team-high eight digs. Junior libero Weston Barnes (Laguna Beach, Calif./Laguna Beach HS/George Mason) added six digs as well. Junior Clay Carr (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS) finished the night with four kills on a .300 output and added two blocks, including one solo rejection.
In the first set, Long Beach worked ahead to a 10-6 lead. The Waves went on a 4-2 run to bring the deficit within two-points, but the 49ers struck back to pull ahead 18-13. Despite several attempts to battle back in the set, the opposition picked up a 25-20 set win to open the match.
The second went point-for-point to the 6-6 mark, before the home team stacked a few points in sequence to a 13-8 advantage. LBSU then kept hitting the floor offensively to produce a 25-17 set win.
In the third and final set, the Waves went down by three, 6-9, but came back strong to tie the set at 12’s and build the team’s first lead of the night with a 15-12 advantage. Pepperdine kept exchanging points, but the 49ers eventually tied the match at the 18-18 mark. The home team then had the momentum and finished off the set 25-21 for the 3-0 sweep.
Next up, the Waves return home on February 8 to host No. 11 UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse. Follow Pepperdine @PeppVolleyball on Twitter and Facebook for immediate updates and head to PepperdineWaves.com for recaps, results and more.
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