Top-Ranked Long Beach State Sweeps No. 6 UCLA

Saturday, January 19

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 PM

Long Beach State University

6-0

UCLA

5-2

Long Beach State

UCLA

1/20/2019 12:18:00 AM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

The Beach hit .429 en route to their sixth-straight victory

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Box Score (PDF) | Play-By-Play (PDF)

Photo Gallery

LOS ANGELES – No. 1 Long Beach State earned its sixth-straight sweep with a 3-0 [29-27, 25-22, 25-17] victory over No. 6 UCLA on Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion. The Beach out-hit the Bruins .429 to .210 and dominated at the net for a solid all-around effort.

The Beach (6-0) were led by senior setter Josh Tuaniga who distributed 26 assists and piloted the LBSU offense to a strong attack percentage as senior outside TJ DeFalco finished the night with a team-best 13 kills. DeFalco hit .500 (13-2-22) in the match and, while Louis Richard hit .533 (8-0-15) with eight kills.

While Long Beach State's offense output was on point, the Beach blocking defense was equally impressive posting 11.5 total team blocks to UCLA's (5-2) 2.0. DeFalco, along with middles Simon Andersen and Nick Amado each tallied five block assists, while Kyle Ensing contributed four.

Tuaniga contributed on both sides of the ball as he led the team with six digs and added three block assists. He, along with Ensing and DeFalco, each tallied a service ace in the match.

LBSU held the advantage in hitting percentage and blocking, however, UCLA finished the match leading in kills (37-32), assists (34-29) and aces (8-3).

The rematch of the 2018 National Championship did not disappoint as the opening set was a battle from the start. The two team found themselves deadlocked 13 times and exchanged leads on three separate occasions. The first set saw five set points before the Beach closed out the frame on back-to-back kills from DeFalco and Ensing to win 29-27.

In the second set, Long Beach State jumped out in front to an early 3-0 lead and held the edge for the majority of the frame. UCLA, however, managed to chip away at the lead and used a 4-1 run to even the score at 20-all. The lone tie in the set was broke on a kill off the hands of DeFalco which gave LBSU a lead it would hold the remainder of the set as the Beach claimed a 25-22 victory.

Leading two sets to none, Long Beach State found its groove in the third set as the Beach hit a whopping .538 (8-1-13) in the frame, while the defense limited the Bruins to just .160 (10-6-25) hitting. Following three early ties, the Beach posted back-to-back block assists by the duos of Ensing and Andersen, and Andersen and Richard to go up 8-6. From there, the Beach extended their lead to four (13-9) as UCLA took a timeout to regroup.

The break in action did little to stop the Beach as they surged ahead to a 17-10 advantage forcing another Bruins timeout. Long Beach State controlled the third set and cruised to a 25-17 win to complete the sweep.

@lbsumvb defeats UCLA, 25-17 in set 3 to complete the sweep! #GoBeach #LBNation pic.twitter.com/eTnaza0qz2
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) January 20, 2019

The Beach will be back in action on Friday, Jan. 25 when they host USC in the Long Beach State home opener at 7 p.m. in the Pyramid. Prior to the match, the 2018 National Championship banner will be revealed and replica banners will be given to the first 1,000 fans in attendance. To purchase tickets, please click HERE.