By No. 7 USC overcame the thundering roar from 49er fans inside the Walter Pyramid and defeated the No. 9 Long Beach State men’s volleyball team in five sets Friday night.
The 49ers (12-10, 8-9 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) failed to keep their momentum going after leading two sets to one. LBSU head coach Alan Knipe said the last two sets came down to his team’s inability to continue to maintain control of the serve.
“When you’re siding-out at a high number, the score is either close or you’re up” Knipe said. “It makes it really difficult for their setter to do different things. They started doing a lot of different things offensively mainly because they had the lead.”
The Trojans (12-7, 10-6 MPSF) conjured up the last bit of energy they had and came out firing in the fifth set, slamming down 10 kills with only three errors. USC went on to win the set 15-10 to seal the victory.
The 49ers came out strong in the first set when junior middle blocker Taylor Gregory and junior outside hitter John La Rusch hit .667 and .500 percent, respectively.
“It kind of stings a little bit,” sophomore setter Curtis Stallings said. “It’s tough when you go up 2-1 and you’re trying to close out in the fourth and you can’t. We missed a couple of opportunities. They had some service pressures and we might have missed it a little bit.”
Junior outside hitter Cody Martin made his return to the court in set four for junior outside hitter Dan Glamack and ended the night with a .375 hitting percentage. Martin missed the past few weeks due to an abdomen injury, but brought another dimension to the court against the Trojans with his physicality said Knipe.
“It felt good to be back on the court with my teammates,” Martin said. “I think we played tremendous tonight and I think our team effort was great. We just didn’t execute.”
Knipe reiterated that it was pertinent for his players to move past a loss, and instead, focus on the matches ahead.
“As tough as it is to handle, what we have to lean on is that the game is in our control for us to close it out,” Knipe said. “We have to continue to mature and close out these games. If we can continue to improve like we have in these last few weeks, [we’ll be better prepared for] Pepperdine.”
The 49ers continue their home stand when they host Pepperdine and Stanford on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. Both matches start at 7 p.m. inside the Walter Pyramid.
