The Long Beach City College men's volleyball team is hot. Not just hot – scorching hot.
The Viking flame has failed to simmered down over the past month and a half, but rather exponentially grow. They currently hold a 13 game winning streak with a pair of those wins including victories over the seventh-seeded El Camino College Warriors by the final match scores reading 3-2 and 3-1, respectfully. In order to extend their winning streak and reach their second-consecutive California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) State Championship match, the Vikings need to climb past the Warriors one more time.
The Vikings are set to face off against the Warriors in the CCCAA State Championship Semifinal matchup this Thursday, April 27th at host site Pierce College. The game will be live streamed through SoCal Sports free of charge.
Long Beach completed a match-sweep of the sixth-seeded Fullerton College Hornets in the quarterfinals last Friday, while El Camino pulled off an upset over the second-seeded Irvine Valley College Lasers by the final score of 3-1.
Long Beach holds the season series over El Camino and pushed them to third place in the Western State Conference – South by beating them in the final game of the regular season.
Freshman outside hitter Cyrus Fa'alogo (Salt Lake City, UT) has been a Warrior killer by earning a combined 48 kills in both matches. In the most recent match, Fa'alogo recorded a match-high 28 kills off 51 attempts en route to a .412 hitting percentage. Sophomore outside Travis O'Gorman (East Northport, NY) has been equally as dominant by earning 20 kills in the first matchup to total a combined 29 kills against El Camino.
Freshman middle Elai Mama (Moreno Valley, CA) is a serious threat in the middle by acting as a brick wall for opposing offensive threats. He has recorded 10 blocks in the two matches and has his work cut out for him once again.
Mama will be tasked to control the vicious swing of outside hitter Cesar Medina who has amassed 34 kills in the two matches against LBCC. He is their largest threat on the opposing hardwood.
With that being said, the sure hand of sophomore libero David Escobedo (Los Angeles, CA) needs to show up equally as impressive as he did during their last meeting. He was a human shovel by recording a game-high and career-high 21 digs – the majority of the digs came off a Medina attempt.
The setting tandem of sophomores Jayce Ashment (Gilbert, AZ) and Gary Trejo (Long Beach, CA) were electric in both matches with Ashment leading the way in the most recent matchup with 32 assists. He dished out 20 in the first matchup to total 52 assists. Trejo split the serving duties in the first meeting to earn 26.