The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team rebounded from a loss to UC Irvine on Friday by beating No. 12 UC San Diego 3-1 on Saturday night at the RIMAC Arena.
The seventh-ranked 49ers (6-3, 4-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) came out firing on all cylinders in the first two sets with identical 25-17 wins and got a 2-0 jump on the Tritons (3-6, 2-4 MPSF) early. Solid defense from Colten Echave, who rejected numerous Triton hits on the night and ended with a team high of 6 blocks, sparked the early lead from LBSU. This combined with textbook setting from junior Connor Olbright had the 49ers sitting in the driver’s seat.
In the third set, the 49ers fell behind early as the Tritons built a 6-1 lead. Taylor Crabb, who finished the night with 15 kills and 8 digs, pulled his team within three after spiking a kill through the UCSD defense.
The ‘Niners, however, would never get closer. UCSD pulled away with solid play from junior outside hitter Vaun Lennon in the second half of the set and eventually won 25-17 to bring the match o 2-1 in favor of the 49ers.
The fourth set proved to be the most competitive of the night with 13 tie scores and quality volleyball from both teams. The lead flipped back and forth with neither team leading by more than a point until redshirt freshman Taylor Gregory sent a hit sailing past the UC San Diego defense for a LBSU kill and a 12-10 lead.
The Beach remained in the lead until UCSD fought back to tie the game at 18 all. LBSU then dug deep with the help of junior Dalton Ammerman, who led the team with 16 kills and 9 digs. The 49ers finished off the set on a 5-0 run, taking the set 25-20 and winning the match 3-1.
After a tough loss on Friday evening to the Anteaters, the 49ers did exactly what they needed to do at the RIMAC Arena on Saturday evening by taking the match one set at a time and bettering their record in the process.
The ‘Niners will continue on with their road trip next week by traveling to Cal Baptist on Tuesday. They will end the week with a match at top-ranked BYU on Friday.