The No. 8-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team dropped yet another match to a top 5-ranked opponent after being swept by No. 5 Stanford Friday night at Maples Pavilion
LBSU had a season-low 27 kills on its way to its second defeat at the hands of the Cardinal – 13-25, 16-25, 18-25.
Brian Cook and Brad Lawson had 14 kills apiece leading the match for Stanford.
The ‘Niners were led by senior Srdjan Nadazin with just seven kills on a wretched .174 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Jeff Ornee had three kills on seven attempts to notch a team leading .429 hitting percentage and added five blocks during LBSU’s loss.
The 49ers never hit better than .200 in any of the three sets on their way to a miserable .098 overall hitting percentage.
Stanford dominated the first set despite an early run by the ‘Niners. The Cardinal outscored LBSU 12-3 down the stretch to dominate The Beach 25-13.
Sophomore Eric Mochalski had three blocks in the first set for Stanford including two solo blocks.
The Cardinal defensive effort was anchored by veteran senior libero Erik Shoji who had 17 digs on the night.
The second was more of the same after Stanford came out swinging, jumping to an early 7-2 lead. Cook and Lawson combined for 12 or the Cardinal’s second set points to again defeat LBSU.
Despite coming out strong with back-to-back kills by Ornee and Nadazdin to begin the third set, LBSU again struggled against the Stanford attack. The Cardinal answered the early two-point run with a 9-1 run.
LBSU cut the gap to four after back-to-back kills from senior Jim Baughman, but a Stanford timeout iced the ‘Niners who were outscored 6-3 to close out the match.
The 49ers bounced back from an embarrassing loss Friday to defeat No. 13-ranked Pacific 3-1 Saturday evening at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
LBSU (14-13, 9-11 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) controlled the majority of the match by out-killing their opponents 68-46 in their four set victory – 29-27, 23-25, 25-17, 25-15.
Sophomore Taylor Crabb and junior Trevor Crabb each tallied a match-high 16 kills while Taylor got 14 digs as well to give him his seventh double-double of the season.
Sophomore Connor Olbright’s 57 assists and 15 digs gave him his second double-double of the season. Senior Srdjan Nadazdin had 13 kills and a career high 12 digs to give him his first double-double of his career.
LBSU jumped out to an early lead in the first set but Pacific was able to tie it up at 6 after a Christian Ahlin serve aced the ‘Niners.
Both teams traded points all set long until with the score tied up for the 12th time of the set when senior Brad Hemmerling and Taylor Crabb scored back-to-back kills to put give the ‘Niners the opening set win.
Pacific came out with a vengeance jumping out to an early four-point lead in the second stanza.
LBSU was able to claw its way back after back-to-back blocks put them down only one, 22-21. Pacific, however, fought back strong and closed out the second set with a kill by Hughes.
The third set opened up with three straight attack errors by Pacific to put LBSU up 5-1.
The poor attacking performance continued throughout the third set as the Tigers had just 12 kills along with nine errors hitting at just a .073 clip.
LBSU never gave up the lead and closed out an easy third set.
The fourth set was the ‘Niners most dominant set. LBSU had 21 kills at a .410 clip to rout the Tigers 25-15.
The Crabb brothers combined for 12 of LBSU’s kills in the final set.
Pacific was held to just seven kills in the set completing the victory for a LBSU that desperately needed it.
LBSU now enters the final week of their regular season by taking on No. 1 USC at home April 12 at 7 p.m. Saturday the Beach will take on No. 6 Pepperdine in a crucial match for positioning in the MPSF tournament. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
