Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
8-0
Stanford
1-7
TJ DeFalco Tallies 1,000th Career Kill in No. 1 LBSU's Sweep of Stanford
1/26/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Jan. 26, 2018
LONG BEACH -- A total team effort, highlighted by junior outside hitter TJ DeFalco's 1,000th career kill, lifted top-ranked Long Beach State to a dominating three-set sweep of Stanford on Friday night inside the Walter Pyramid. The Beach won by set scores of 25-13, 25-17, 25-14 to extend their winning streak to eight.
Everything clicked for the Beach (8-0) as they hit .500 (32-6-52) and put up 12.0 total team blocks, while the Cardinal was limited to just .060 hitting (25-21-67). Leading the way for Long Beach State was junior outside hitter Josh Tuaniga who continues to pace the offense. Not only did Tuaniga dish out 28 assists in the match, but he also recorded five digs, two service aces, a pair of blocks, and added a kill in an all-around solid performance.
With Tuaniga setting a solid match, Kyle Ensing, DeFalco, and Nick Amado capitalized knocking down a total of 24 kills. Ensing led the way with nine kills, while DeFaclo added eight, and Amado knocked down seven. DeFalco's third kill of the night, which came in the second set, will go down in his career as his 1,000th. The product out of Huntington Beach, Calif., becomes just the 21st player in LBSU men's volleyball history to reach the 1,000-kill plateau.
The Beach were on point on both sides of the ball as the defense did a good job protecting the net all night. Freshman middle blocker Simon Anderson led the way posting a career-high seven block assists in the match, while Ensing and Bjarne Huus each recorded five. Ensing's five stops matched his season-high, while Huus tied his career-high with his five block assists.
Long Beach State was on a roll from the start as the Beach hit .579 in the first set knocking down 12 kills on 19 swings, while committing just one error. The Beach opened up a seven-point lead (17-10) after tallying three-straight points on Cardinal errors forcing Stanford to call for a timeout. The Beach came out of the break with an Ensing kill which led to an 8-3 run to close out the first set, 25-13.
After an opening point by Stanford, DeFalco got the second set going for the Beach with his 1,000th career kill for Long Beach State's first point of the frame. DeFalco's kill led to LBSU jumping out in front 9-4 before the Beach extended their lead to seven (20-13) on a Tuaniga service ace. From there, Long Beach State cruised to a 25-17 win.
Up two games to none, Long Beach State jumped out in front 2-0 on another DeFalco kill. Although the Cardinal would tie the game four times in the frame, the Beach would never trail as Long Beach State held the lead throughout.
The Beach hit .625 (11-1-16) and held the Cardinal to .053 (8-7-19) as Long Beach State controlled the match with its balanced offensive attack. The Beach pushed their lead to double-digits and went on to complete the sweep with a 25-14 victory.
Long Beach State will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 27, when it hosts No. 13 USC at 7 p.m. inside the Pyramid.
