Men’s Volleyball: No. 1 LBCC gets back on track with sweep of Santa Barbara

The No. 1 state-ranked Long Beach City College men's volleyball team responded to its first loss of the season on Wednesday with a 25-22, 25-21, 25-17 sweep over No. 9 Santa Barbara City College on Friday at LBCC. The Western State Conference win improved the Vikings to 9-1 overall and 3-1 in conference play.

Each set was close throughout the match before Long Beach rallied late to pull out each win.

In Set 1, LBCC and SBCC were tied at 20 before the Vikings got a pair of kills from freshman Greg Utupo (Mayfair HS), a kill from freshman Jo'Lon Clark (Poly HS), and a kill from freshman Brett Anema (Valley Christian HS) that sealed the win.

Set 2 was more of the same. This time Santa Barbara jumped out to a 12-10 lead before the Vikings rallied to jump back out in front. A block by Utupo and Anema gave the Vikings a 14-13 lead and eventually LBCC built up a 20-15 advantage.

The Vaqueros didn't go down easy. Three straight hitting errors by the Vikings and an ace by Ryan McLouglin got SBCC within one point at 20-19. A kill by Anema was followed by Santa Barbara kills by Jordon Dyer and Aquiles Montoya to tie the set, 21-21.

But Long Beach was able to win the final four points, getting kills from Utupo, sophomore Aniefre Etim-Thomas (Wilson HS, pictured), Clark, and a hitting error by SBCC's Cody Kreitzer gave the Vikings the set.

The two teams played to a 5-5 tie in the third set before Long Beach took over. An error by Kreitzer gave LBCC a 10-6 lead and later back-to-back Long Beach blocks gave the Vikings a 17-11 advantage. A solo block from Anema on Colton Jones gave Long Beach set and match point.

Long Beach appeared to play better as the match progressed. After hitting .175 and .323 in the first two sets, the Vikings hit an impressive .562 in Set 3 with nine kills and no errors in 16 attempts. LBCC also came up big at the net, totaling 21 blocks on the night.

Utupo led LBCC with 11 kills to go with five digs and two blocks. Clark posted six kills, two aces, and two blocks, while Etim-Thomas had seven kills and four blocks. Anema led the Vikings with six blocks to go with five kills.

Sophomore Max Wechsung (St. John Bosco HS) totaled 21 assists, three kills, and three blocks while sophomore Rob McLean (East Northport, NY) had five kills, two aces, and three blocks.

Matt Winslow led Santa Barbara (6-6, 1-4 WSC) with 12 kills. Dyer totaled 15 assists, five kills, and seven digs while Montoya chipped in with five kills and two blocks.

Long Beach returns to action on Monday (Mar 19) when it travels to San Diego City College for a 3 pm non-conference match.

Photo by John Fajardo