The Long Beach State men’s volleyball won up its 11th consecutive set in a 3-0 sweep against UC Irvine Friday night inside the Walter Pyramid.
The 49ers (13-2, 10-2) have not dropped a set since losing the second in their 3-1 win over Cal Baptist on Feb. 10. LBSU also rolled onto its seventh overall victory in a row after its nine-block performance against the Anteaters (4-10, 3-9).
“I thought we came out and passed the ball well early,” LBSU head coach Alan Knipe said. “We got a lot of guys going offensively. And we did a pretty good job with our blocking defense.”
The 49ers recorded four team blocks in the first set, the last of which came after UCI’s senior outside hitter Kyle Russell’s spike was denied by LBSU outside hitters Taylor Gregory and Bjarne Huus. That block sealed the 25-19 win for the 49ers.
In set two, the 49ers jumped to a quick lead and never looked back. The Anteaters got close twice, cutting the LBSU lead to 9-8 before a 6-2 run by the 49ers forced an Irvine timeout. LBSU then led 21-15, but a 5-1 UCI made the score 22-20 and forced Knipe to call timeout.
Anteaters’ senior middle blocker Jason Agopian said his team had a chance to take some sets, but were unable to keep any rhythm whenever they started to play well.
“We would kick into a different gear and drop back down,” Agopian said.
Russell and Agopian committed two service errors out with LBSU already at 22 points, ultimately giving the 49ers the 25-22 set win.
The Anteaters would once again lose momentum in set three after a rough start by the 49ers.
“I don’t like how we started [the third set],” Knipe said. “I thought Irvine did a great job of jumping on us, but I was really proud, after going down 5-0, of how quickly we got to 7-7.”
Once the 49ers erased the Anteater lead, both teams traded points, and errors, and remained tied at 19. LBSU was the first to break away and gained a 22-19 lead thanks to a kill by Yould and a pair of errors by Russell. The 49ers then closed out the set 25-23 to win the match 3-0.
Russell finished with a game-high 16 kills, but he also led all players with nine errors; five of which came in the third set. Freshman setter Josh Tuaniga continued to pass well; he led the offense to a .382 hitting percentage with a game-high 34 assists.
“Even though it doesn’t look too close, I think we were close to doing well,” Agopian said. “We just really didn’t pass well and if we don’t pass well it’s going to make it really hard.”
The 49ers look to extend their unbeaten streak to eight and nine when they visit Hawai’i for a two-game series on Wednesday and Friday in Honolulu. Both games start at 9 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.