Top-Ranked Beach Win 10th Straight With Sweep of McKendree

Saturday, February 2

St. Charles, Mo.

11:00 AM

Long Beach State University

10-0

McKendree

2-4

McKendree

Long Beach State

2/2/2019 1:50:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Ensing, Amado, DeFalco lead Long Beach State to a 3-0 showing at the Lindenwood Invitational

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

@lbsumvb head coach Alan Knipe talks about the team's 3-0 win over McKendree and gives his assessment of the team's performance at the Lindenwood Tournament #GoBeach #LBNation pic.twitter.com/xvbRseidTE
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) February 2, 2019

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

ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The No. 1 Long Beach State men's volleyball team went 3-0 at the Lindenwood Invitational after closing out the tournament with a sweep [25-23, 25-13, 25-15] over McKendree on Saturday afternoon. The Beach have now won 10-straight matches to start the season.

Seniors Kyle Ensing and Nick Amado led the offensive charge as Ensing slammed 13 kills, while Amado recorded a new career-high with 10 as Long Beach State (10-0) out-hit McKendree (2-4) .459 to .185. TJ DeFalco contributed as well finishing the match with eight kills on .583 hitting (8-1-12).

Freshman Shane Holdaway turned in another excellent performance as he concluded the match with five kills on eight swings with just one error to hit .500. He also added a pair of blocks to join Ensing and Amado for the team lead.

Ensing and DeFalco had solid performances from the end line as the duo each tallied three aces in the contest. The Beach would finish with eight aces in the match with Louis Richard and Amado adding one apiece.

In addition to running a balanced offense and distributing 33 assists in the match, senior setter Josh Tuaniga was solid defensively as well. He led the squad with eight digs, while senior libero Jordan Molina contributed seven.

The opening set saw six ties as McKendree battled Long Beach State out of the gate. The Bearcats hit .280 to the Beach's .303 as the two teams traded points throughout the frame. Long Beach State took a five-point lead several times throughout the game, but McKendree battled back and evened the score at 20-all. Both teams battled each other to a 23-23 tie, before the Beach closed out the set on a block by Amado and Ensing to win, 25-23.

Following the close first set, Long Beach State powered past McKendree in the next two games. The Beach hit .500 (13-3-20) in the second set as the Bearcats committed as many errors as they had kills for a .000 attack percentage. LBSU used a pair of kills by Ensing and an ace by DeFalco to take a lead it would not relinquish as the Beach cruised to a 25-13 victory.

The final set saw LBSU hit a whopping .667 (15-1-21) as the Beach broke a 5-5 tie with a 6-1 run to take an 11-6 lead as McKendree utilized a timeout. The break did little to stop Long Beach State as the Beach extended its lead to 10 (22-12) on another Ensing kill. The Beach surged ahead and rolled passed the Bearcats, 25-15, to secure the set and match.

McKendree was led by Will Frank who finished with nine kills on .333 hitting, while Ryan Serrano dished out 17 assists with four digs.

Long Beach State will return home to host The AVCA Showcase at Walter Pyramid on Friday, Feb. 8 and Saturday, Feb. 9. The AVCA Showcase will feature LBSU, UC Santa Barbara, Ohio State, and Penn State. The tournament will begin on Friday at 6 p.m., when the Gauchos and the Buckeyes go head-to-head, before the Beach and the Nittany Lions face off that night at 8 p.m.