The No. 8-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team continued its struggles against top 5 opponents by getting swept by No. 1 USC Thursday night at the Walter Pyramid.
LBSU (14-14, 9-12 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) had no players with double digit kills as the ‘Niners were swept – 17-25, 26-28, 19-25.
Sophomore Taylor Crabb led the Beach with just nine kills at a .231 clip.
Senior Tony Ciarelli led the USC attack with only nine kills, but set an MPSF record with 11 aces on LBSU.
USC started the match off strong with a 5-0 run that featured four of Ciarelli’s 11 aces in a row.
LBSU could not recover and when it was Ciarelli’s turn to serve again they struggled to make a return allowing another four ace in a row run. He totaled 10.5 points in the first set that USC dominated.
The 10 kills were all the Trojans needed as they cruised past LBSU in the first set hitting .500.
It looked like the night was going to be a short one after USC opened the second set with a seven-point run to put them up 9-2 early on.
Again, the USC attack turned to Ciarelli who churned out back-to-back-to-back kills to help USC pull away from a streaking LBSU team 16-8.
Things turned around late in the set when a kill by senior Srdjan Nadazdin put LBSU within four points. Nadazdin’s kill sparked a six-point run to put the Beach up by one, 23-24.
Two late service errors, one each from Trevor Crabb and Colten Echave, proved to be the opportunity the Trojans needed to seal the second set. USC outscored LBSU 6-2 after the 49ers’ late capturing of the lead to put the Trojans up two sets to none.
LBSU again wouldn’t die in the early third set, desperately trying to claw their way back. But with a 12-13 lead, LBSU gave up another huge run to USC. The Trojans scored six unanswered points to pull away for good from LBSU.
The ‘Niners must make quick adjustments for Saturday night because they take on No. 6 Pepperdine at the Walter Pyramid. Pepperdine defeated LBSU earlier on in the year 3-1.
Saturday’s match up will determine who takes on the No. 3 seed in the MPSF Postseason Tournament the following week.
A loss might be better for the 49ers because that would almost guarantee LBSU would face off against BYU in the first round of the tournament. BYU is the only school in the top five that LBSU has defeated all season.