By The No. 4 Long Beach State men’s volleyball team cemented its 17th 20-win season as they downed No. 7 UC Santa Barbara in three quick sets Wednesday night inside the Walter Pyramid.
LBSU (20-4, 14-3) stumped UCSB (14-9, 9-8) in their second meeting of the season, holding the Gauchos to a .239 hitting percentage for the night.
LBSU head coach Alan Knipe said that keeping the Gauchos on their heels was mostly due to the 49ers making few mistakes.
“We put a lot of pressure on [UCSB] and we passed really well,” Knipe said. “When you get that combination of you’re passing real well and serving real tough, it usually puts your pass and defense in a good situation.”
The match started off with each team trading points evenly until sophomore outside hitter Bjarne Huus spurred a 4-0 run with a kill for the 49ers.
LBSU continued to extend the lead with consecutive kills from freshman outside hitter T.J. DeFalco and senior middle blocker Taylor Gregory. A sophomore opposite hitter Davis Cannon kill finally gave the 49ers the first set 25-15.
The Gauchos kept the second set tight with 10 score ties, but managed to take an early three-point lead. However, the 49ers caught up and regained the lead with an ace from DeFalco.
The teams traded points for a majority of the set before another DeFalco kill sparked the 49ers. LBSU gained set point after a shot from Matt Marsh was hit just outside the antenna before DeFalco got a kill to put away set two at 25-21.
DeFalco said in close sets, he tries to remind his teammates to not stay hung up on a bad play and to “bring fire.” He said he is proud of how far his team has come so far this season and how much he has improved from the start.
“I’ve progressed as much as my coaches and my teammates allow me too,” DeFalco said. “I absorb everything from them…and I’m really proud of what everyone’s been helping me with.”
The teams kept up the back and forth play to start the third set with each team gaining the lead before errors forced a tie set. The 49ers gained a 14-13 lead with a kill from freshman opposite hitter Kyle Ensing and held onto the lead for the rest of the set. DeFalco put the match away with an ace 25-19.
DeFalco finished the night with ten kills, three aces and seven digs.
UCSB’s redshirt freshman middle blocker Henri Cherry said that his team has been focusing on their side of the net and improving his own team’s game.
“We’ve been working on learning from our mistakes as the match progresses…and leaving each point behind and working on getting better,” Cherry said.
Cherry ended the night with seven kills on 14 swings with no errors and one block assist.
As the post-season inches closer for the 49ers, Knipe said that the focus is tightening up his team offensively.
“[We need to] try to continue to push the envelope on the things we expect our offense to be good at and continue to tighten up our serving and passing,” Knipe said. “More than ever before we got to focus on the things we can control and we can control us.
The 49ers are back in the Walter Pyramid as they take on UCLA Saturday night at 7 p.m.
