Despite a dominant first set, the No. 8-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team fell in four sets to No. 7 Lewis Saturday night in the second night of the Active Ankle Tournament at Walter Pyramid.
LBSU’s 25-13, 19-25, 22-25 20-25 loss is its first loss against non-conference opponents all season.
Senior Jim Baughman led the ‘Niners (10-9) with 14 kills and seven digs. Sophomore Taylor Crabb chipped in 13 kills on a .429 hitting percentage. Senior Ryan Meehan added a career-high 12 kills and four block assists in LBSU’s loss.
Jay Petty led Lewis with a match-high 17 kills despite a slow start in the first set.
LBSU came out of the gates roaring, opening the match going 11-3.
Baughman had five of LBSU’s 14 kills in the first set and helped the Beach to a staggering .650 hitting percentage.
Petty was held to only two kills in the first set and committed two of Lewis’s five first set errors.
The Flyers came to play in the second set hitting 14 kills thanks to the efforts of freshman Greg petty and junior Ian Karbiener.
Both of sophomore setter B.J. Boldog’s service aces came in the second set, as well.
LBSU, who had committed only one error in the first set, committed four in the second set.
The Flyers continued to flourish in the third set despite four LBSU blocks.
Sophomore middle blocker Jeff Ornee continues to improve on the defensive side of the ball. Ornee started the third set after sitting out the first two and notched one solo block and two block assists.
LBSU’s offense could not follow suit and struggled in the third falling behind 11-16 after Baughman’s second attack error of the set.
The ‘Niners wouldn’t die and went on a 7-point run to take back the lead 18-16.
Jay Petty dominated, however, putting up eight of his 17 kills in the third set alone.
Lewis proved to be too much after a 3-point run late in the third set gave them enough room to take the lead in the match 2-1.
LBSU’s dominant offense from the first set began waking up once again in the fourth.
After a 15 kill first set LBSU only put up 11 and 10 in the next second and third sets. The fourth set saw 14 49er kills fall on the Lewis side of the net.
Both teams traded point until Jay Petty led Lewis on a late 5-point run in the fourth set to clinch the Flyer’s third win against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation teams this season.