No. 4 Long Beach State Drops Five-Set Thriller to Trinity Western at CanAm Holiday Showcase

Saturday, December 28

Toronto, Ontario

4:00 PM

Long Beach State University

Trinity Western

Photo by: Mason Boroff

No. 4 Long Beach State Drops Five-Set Thriller to Trinity Western at CanAm Holiday Showcase

12/28/2019 9:11:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

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Freshman libero Mason Briggs was named Player of the Game for the Beach

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

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TORONTO – The No. 4 Long Beach State men's volleyball team battled it out with the 2019 U SPORTS Champion Trinity Western Spartans on Saturday evening at the CanAm Holiday Volleyball Showcase and came up just short in an exciting 3-2 [16-25, 25-23, 21-25, 27-25, 13-15] contest at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.

The closely contested match saw solid performances from several players on both sides. Freshman libero Mason Briggs, along with Trinity Western's setter Derek Epp, were named Players of the Game.

Other top performers for the Beach included Alexander Anastassiades, Simon Andersen, Spencer Olivier, Carlos Rivera, and Ethan Siegfried who all earned starts in the match. Meanwhile, Ryan Poole, Grant Guinasso, and Matt Johnson all came off the bench to provide quality plays for Long Beach State.

The Beach fell behind early in the first set as the Spartans rolled to a 25-16 victory. Trinity Western came into the contest riding a 10-match winning streak in the midst of their season.

Despite the first set loss, Long Beach State kept the second set close before an ace from Poole got the Beach going as LBSU rattled off three straight points to even the score at 14-all. Anastassiades gave the Beach the lead (16-15) with a kill from the right as Long Beach State edged Trinity Western, 25-23, to tie the match at one set apiece.

The Spartans jumped out in front to start the third set and take a quick lead. Long Beach State chipped away at Trinity Western's lead but was unable to close the gap as the Beach fell, 25-21.

Down two sets to one, Long Beach State claimed a 7-4 advantage, but Trinity Western came back to tie things up as the two teams exchanged points until they were knotted at 15-15. The Spartans went on a 3-0 run which forced the Beach to call a timeout. The break in action allowed the Beach to regroup as they bounded back and made it a two-point game (22-20) on a kill off the hands of Siegfried.

The Spartans pushed it to match point, but LBSU would not back down. The gritty Beach squad battled back to even the game, 24-24. Following another match point by the Spartans, the Beach tied it up again (25-25) before defeating Trinity Western, 27-25, to force a fifth and deciding set.

Trinity Western opened the fifth set controlling the game as the Spartans held an 8-5 lead as the two teams changed sides. Once again, the Beach showed their determination as back-to-back kills from Poole made it a one-point (8-7) game. A kill from Shane Holdaway kept the Beach close before LBSU took a 13-12 lead on a kill by Siegfried. With the match looking to be going LBSU's way, Trinity Western closed out the set and match to win, 15-13.

Long Beach State will continue action at the CanAm Holiday Volleyball Showcase on Monday, Dec. 30 at 4 p.m. (PT) when the Beach go head-to-head with Alberta.