The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team remained undefeated after recovering from a dropped first set against Southern California for a 3-1 win on Saturday and rolling past Cal Baptist 3-1 on Friday.
Freshman T.J. DeFalco carried the load on both occasions. He picked up season highs with 21 kills and six service aces against the Lancers and followed that up with a 19 kill performance in the win over USC, both inside the Walter Pyramid.
The outside hitter, who played with the United States at the 2015 Pan American games, said despite his success early in the season he still has work to do.
“Every day [I make adjustments], with everything that I do,” DeFalco said. “Whether it’d be passing, blocking or hitting, it’s everything that I do.”
The Trojans (0-4, 0-2) entered Saturday’s match having won 12 of their last 14 meetings with the 49ers, including a four-game win streak dating back to 2014. LBSU Head coach Alan Knipe said all those previous matchups were of no relevance to this team this season.
“Last year [compared] to this year was a completely different feel,” Knipe said. “This year we feel like we have a lot of experience and some real good young talent. So, I don’t think there is anybody that is thinking anything good, or bad, about last year. They’re excited about this year.”
The 49ers got off to a shaky start which allowed the Trojans to build a quick 9-3 lead. LBSU recovered, cutting the lead to as low as two points, but USC did enough to close out the first set on top, 25-20.
“[We’ve got to] give a lot of credit to USC,” Knipe said. “They jumped out of the gate serving and I don’t think we necessarily handled it great. But we certainly did overall handle [the game] well. Just not in the moment of the first set.”
LBSU came out stronger in the second set, jumping to a 17-10 lead at one point that forced the Trojans to take a timeout. Trojans’ head coach Jeff Nygaard’s pep talk seemed to work, as USC strung together a 4-0 run to put the Trojans back in the game, forcing Knipe to call his own timeout.
The 13th year head coach’s own adjustments paid off; LBSU cut the USC run with two quick points. The 49ers went on to close out the second set, 25-17, on top to tie the match.
Set three was much more competitive. Both teams traded points until the 49ers broke away from a 12-12 tie with a 7-2 run. The deficit was insurmountable for USC and momentum seemed to swing behind LBSU after the 25-21 win.
“At that point we were just playing volleyball,” DeFalco said. “We were just grinding points and going as hard as we could.”
The 49ers hit their stride in the fourth set, again taking a decent lead halfway through at 17-11. The Trojans again didn’t have an answer, allowing LBSU to take the set 25-17 and the match 3-1.
Friday yielded a similar result, but at lower stakes.
Historically, the 49ers (5-0, 2-0) have moved past Cal Baptist (3-2, 0-2) with ease; LBSU owned a 15-1 all-time record against the Lancers before Friday. After splitting the first two sets, the 49ers closed out for their fourth win of the season.
The 49ers will host BYU next inside the Walter Pyramid on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.