Sophomore Dan Starkey (Fox Lake, IL) totaled 16 kills in his Vikings debut but it wasn't enough as the Long Beach City College men's volleyball team fell 3-1 (25-19, 25-23, 20-25, 25-18) to visiting Orange Coast College in both teams' season opener on Wednesday at LBCC.

Errors doomed the Vikings as Long Beach had trouble getting the ball in play with 15 service errors while another 19 hitting errors also led to free points for the Pirates.

After dropping the first two sets to Orange Coast, Long Beach avoided the sweep with a win in the third. But the Pirates' offense was too powerful as they wrapped up the win in the fourth. Orange Coast got 16 kills from Ty Hutchins and 14 kills from Jim Webb.

Starkey, who last played at the Milwaukee School of Engineering in 2012, added six digs, three blocks, and two aces. Freshman Alfonso Mata (Warren HS) also had an impressive opening match for the Vikings with 12 kills and four digs. Freshman Rupert Scott (Loughborough, England) posted 37 assists and seven digs in his first time on the court at LBCC.

Long Beach (0-1) has one day to regroup before it returns to action on Friday (Jan 31) when it travels to Golden West College for a 6 p.m. non-conference match.