The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team defeated No. 15 Ohio State in a thrilling five sets and swept No. 14 Penn State at the Active Ankle Classic tournament to reach its eighth consecutive win.
This tournament was the perfect way to end LBSU’s eight-match homestand as it looks forward to hitting the road after four weeks of being in the comfort of its own home.
With LBSU’s 1991 National Championship team in attendance, the team admitted to some butterflies being in attendance as well.
“We have been doing very well the past month and we think it’s an honor to have a National Championship team witnessing our success,” Taylor Crabb said. “We always want to play our best, but knowing that such an amazing player [Brett Winslow] and team is watching made us feel like we had to play like Olympians.”
Taylor Crabb was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player on the All-Tournament team along with teammates Dalton Ammerman and Jeff Ornee on the list of seven players.
No. 15 Ohio State gave LBSU a good run on the first day of the tournament as it took the match to five challenging sets, with the 49ers winning 25-19, 22-25, 19-25, 25-22 and 15-11.
The beginning of the first set was spent going neck-and-neck as there were three lead changes and six lead changes within the first 10 minutes. LBSU was able to stay ahead by as many as six points after Crabb threw one down at 19-13. A Buckeye hitting error ended the set at 25-19.
Unhappy about the first loss, the Buckeyes came out fired up as the 49ers trailed the entire second and third set and lost.
Bringing the momentum into the fourth set, the Buckeyes started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as they led the first half and hoped for the fourth to be the final set. An Ian Satterfield kill finally cut the difference by more than one point at 10-8. From there, the 49ers took control and forced errors from OSU, ending the set at 25-22 for a chance to take the crown.
The final set went back and forth until Ammerman’s serving efforts put his team up 10-8. Crabb and Ammerman scored the next five points with kills and aces for a 15-11 victory.
Five Buckeyes achieved double-digit kills as Andrew Lutz led with 21 kills.
Crabb scored a match-high 23 kills with four errors, hitting a .345 clip. Ammerman chipped in 19 kills as Ornee contributed 11.
No. 14 Penn State fell to LBSU (25-21, 25-23, 25-17) as the 49ers had a 12.5 to 1.0 advantage in total team blocks even though the Lions had three players who registered double-digit kills. Crabb was the only player with double-digit kills for the 49ers.
Head coach Alan Knipe hopes this weekend in the presence of some of LBSU’s greatest players will give them a boost for road matches.
The 49ers will face Pepperdine on Thursday and USC on Saturday. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m.