Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
22-6, 16-5MPSF
UC San Diego
5-22, 0-21MPSF
Beach Topples UC San Diego, 3-0
4/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
LA JOLLA, Calif. - The fifth-ranked Long Beach State men's volleyball team toppled UC San Diego, 25-18, 25-16, 25-17, Friday evening at RIMAC Arena.
Freshmen Kyle Ensing and TJ DeFalco led the Beach with a match-high 10 kills each. Ensing committed just two errors on 22 swings for a .364 clip.
Middle blockers Taylor Gregory (7) and Amir Lugo-Rodriguez (5) combined for 12 kills on .571 hitting. Gregory also had five blocks and Lugo-Rodriguez chipped in four. LBSU finished the night with a 9.0-to-5.5 advantage in total team blocks.
Junior Andrew Sato recorded a team-best seven digs, while freshman Josh Tuaniga had 36 assists and six digs. Tuaniga guided the 49ers to a .373 hitting percentage.
Long Beach State (22-6, 16-5 MPSF) fell behind early in the first set and trailed, 14-10, before responding with three-straight kills from DeFalco, senior Dan Glamack and Ensing to close the gap to one. UC San Diego stayed out front until the Beach hit its stride with a 10-1 run for the 25-18 victory. Junior Eric Ensing and senior John La Rusch were at the service line for nine of those points and they both had an ace during the rally.
LBSU carried its momentum into set two where it raced out to a 5-0 advantage. The Tritons were able to come within one before the 49ers used a 5-1 spurt, capped by a Glamack kill, to pull ahead, 11-6. Long Beach State cruised the rest of the way with a Tuaniga/Lugo-Rodriguez block ending it at 25-16.
In the third frame, the Beach broke a 4-4 deadlock with three unanswered points. LBSU did not relinquish that lead and increased its cushion to as many as eight at 23-15 following a kill by Jeff Utupo. The 49ers sided out for the final two points with a Lugo-Rodriguez kill giving them the 25-17 win.
UC San Diego (5-22, 0-21 MPSF) hit just .125 on the evening. Ian Colbert and Tanner Syftestad paced the Tritons with seven kills each, while Tanner Howard had a match-high eight digs.
Long Beach State will wrap up the regular season tomorrow night at No. 15 UC Irvine. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.
NOTES: Long Beach State is now 6-0 after a loss as it has not suffered back-to-back defeats all season ... LBSU moved back into a tie for third with UCLA in the MPSF standings ... The 49ers are one game behind second-place Stanford but can't catch BYU for the regular-season title after the Cougars' win tonight ... Taylor Gregory registered his 13th match without a hitting error ... He leads the MPSF with a .534 hitting percentage ... TJ DeFalco notched his team-best 25th double-figure kill match.
