The Long Beach City College men's volleyball team needed just 61 minutes to defeat visiting Grossmont College in both teams' match-opener on Wednesday night at LBCC. Long Beach rolled to the three-set sweep of Grossmont by scores of 25-15, 25-18, and 25-14.
The win improved Long Beach to 1-0 overall this season and was also career win No. 1 for new co-head coaches Matt Silva and Jonathan Charette. Grossmont, the 2011 state championship runner up, couldn't stop the balanced attack of the Vikings.
The Vikings overcame some shaky setting in the opening set, committing seven service errors, but still managed to compile an impressive .619 attack percentage and their way to the easy Set 1 win.
LBCC was finally challenged in Set 2 as Grossmont jumped out to early leads of 4-1 and 7-4 before the Vikings rallied back. Kills by sophomores Max Wechsung (St. John Bosco HS) and Rob McLean (East Northport, NY/Northport HS) and three straight hitting errors by the Griffins put Long Beach in front for good at 9-7.
In Set 3, Long Beach took advantage of 10 Grossmont hitting errors and was able to give playing time to reserves. LBCC needed just eight kills in the final set to secure the sweep.
McLean (8 digs) and freshman Brett Anema (Valley Christian HS) led Long Beach with seven kills. Sophomore Aniefre Etim-Thomas had a big night at the net, totaling seven blocks to go with four kills. Wechsung had a good all-around match as he posted 24 assists, five kills, three blocks, and two aces. Sophomore Dylan Marquess led LBCC with 10 digs.
"It was a complete team effort today," said Charette. "Everyone contributed to the victory. Our offense was spread out and they couldn't stop us."
"It was great to get our first win at home in our first try," said Silva. "We have some big shoes to fill with Randy (Totorp) no longer leading the program."
Shalimar Buchanan led Grossmont (0-1) with eight kills and also had three blocks.
Long Beach returns to non-conference action on Friday (Feb 3) when it travels to face defending state champion Irvine Valley College at 6pm.
Photo by Chris Ruiz