No. 1 Long Beach State Earns Four-Set Win Over USC

Friday, January 25

Walter Pyramid

7:00 PM

Long Beach State University

7-0

USC

5-3

USC

Long Beach State

Photo by: John Fajardo

1/25/2019 11:33:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

The Beach served up a season-high 13 aces in the victory

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

WATCH: Hear what head coach Alan Knipe, and seniors Kyle Ensing and Josh Tuaniga had to say about today's four-set win over USC #GoBeach #LBNation
??: https://t.co/b1TLL5IO1F
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) January 26, 2019

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

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Seniors Kyle Ensing and Josh Tuaniga led the charge with career-highs as the duo's serving pressure coupled with a strong offensive output led the top-ranked Long Beach State men's volleyball team passed USC, 3-1 [25-17, 26-24, 19-25, 25-17], on Friday night at the Walter Pyramid.

The Beach (7-0) finished the match with a season-high 13 service aces as six of those belonged to Ensing and five came from Tuaniga. Senior TJ DeFalco accounted for the other two as Long Beach State dominated from the end line.

In addition, Long Beach State hit .384 in the contest and posted 7.0 total team blocks, while USC (5-3) hit .223 on the match.

DeFalco and Ensing were solid offensively as they led the team with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Simon Andersen and Nick Amado added seven kills apiece, while Andersen hit .778 (7-0-9) and Amado posted a .500 (7-2-10) clip.

Tuaniga distributed 35 assists en route to running the offense. With Tuaniga pacing the squad, Long Beach State has hit about .300 in each match this season.

Defensively, senior libero Jordan Molina registered a season-best 11 digs, while Andersen posted four blocks at the net.

The Beach started the match strong hitting .588 (11-1-17) in the first set. LBSU kept USC off balance as the Trojans were forced into six attack errors to counter their six kills for a .000 attack percentage. The Beach served up four aces in the first set alone, with Ensing racking up two.

Long Beach State took an early lead on back-to-back kills by Amado and Ensing to go up 6-4 over USC and the Beach held the lead the rest of the way. LBSU forced the Trojans to utilize both their timeouts before cruising to a 25-17 win.

The Trojans fought back in the second set and the two team battled through 15 ties and five lead changes before USC sent it to set point (24-23). A USC service error evened the score at 24-all and Long Beach State turned the tables on the Trojans by pushing the game to set point after the Beach went up 25-24. On the next play, Ensing put it away to give LBSU a 26-24 win as the Beach went up two sets to none.

The third set was a hard-fought game that saw 12 ties. However, USC would come away with the win as the Trojans hit .412 in the frame. Despite hitting .391 in the set, Long Beach State dropped a 25-19 decision as USC forced a fourth set.

Long Beach State bounced back and hit .412 to USC's .250 attack percentage and controlled the fourth set. Following a 1-1 tie, the Beach went on a 5-0 run to jump out in front 6-1 and never look back. From their LBSU led the rest of the way and put the game and match away on a kill from Tuaniga.

BEACH WIN! @lbsumvb defeats USC, 3-1 #GoBeach #LBNation pic.twitter.com/aW2GD3Btq2
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) January 26, 2019

Long Beach State will hit the road for its next three matches as the Beach play in St. Charles, Mo. LBSU will take on Lindenwood, Quincy, and McKendree Jan. 31 – Feb. 2 in the tournament hosted by Lindenwood.