The No. 1 Long Beach State men’s volleyball team has an up-and-down weekend, getting a win against No. 13 Lewis University and its first loss in 12 matches from No. 5 Ohio State in the Asics Tournament at the Walter Pyramid.
LBSU (18-3, 12-2) saw its winning streak come to an end Saturday night against Ohio State (17-3, 9-1) in a match that came down to a thrilling fifth set that ultimately went in favor of the Buckeyes.
It was a back-and-forth fight with each team keeping the match close in the first two sets, until the 49ers came out and dominated in set three winning it 25-16.
The Buckeyes fought back to take set four and overcame a slow start in set five before earning the lead at match point and putting it away with a kill from sophomore outside hitter Nicolas Szerszen.
LBSU head coach Alan Knipe said that in set five his team “let [the Buckeyes] back in on things that they didn’t have to earn their way back in.” He said there needs to be an ebb and flow when it comes to playing aggressive without being completely reckless, which is something he wants his team to focus on.
“We ended up hitting zero in that fifth set, which is something we don’t do and that came on errors,” Knipe said. “We’ll be better for it.”
Senior middle blocker Taylor Gregory hit .500 on the night with three block assists and back-to-back aces in the fifth set. Gregory noted that emotions were running high after the match and said that his team needed to be more tenacious if they wanted to win the match.
“It’s like a boxing match,” Gregory said. “You throw one punch and they counter with another good one, so you can’t get caught off balance. We got to be better at taking a punch and punching right back.”
OSU head coach Pete Hanson said that his lesson to his team in matches like this is to remember that it’s a game and to have fun. He hopes this win validates what he’s been teaching his team and that it will lead to good things for the rest of the season.
“You’re gonna have set threes where the wheels go off the rails and you don’t know why,” Hanson said. “It’s all between [the players’] ears and you can’t climb in there and fix it. We’re trying to tell the kids to have a short memory, move on and stay positive.”
The 49ers kicked off the tournament Friday with a sloppy 3-1 win against Lewis (11-10, 6-5).
The Flyers dominated the first set, hitting at a .536 with no errors on 28 swings compared to the 49ers’ .364 percentage with five errors.
The 49ers also totalled just three blocks on the night when they typically average 2.4 blocks per set. Lewis dominated the net, finishing the night with 11.5 total blocks with six of them coming from the second set.
The 49ers return to conference action inside the Walter Pyramid, facing off against Cal State Northridge on Friday at 7 p.m.