Speller, Starkey, Buggs power Vikings to 3-1 win over Santa Barbara

Sophomore Reylea Speller (Wauwatosa, WI) had a match-high 18 kills, sophomore Dan Starkey (Fox Lake, IL) posted 16 kills, and freshman Marques Buggs (Poly HS) totaled 14 kills to help lead the Long Beach City College men's volleyball team to a 25-19, 25-20, 17-25, 25-21 win over visiting Santa Barbara City College on Wednesday at LBCC.

The Western State Conference win improved Long Beach to 11-2 overall and 5-1 in conference play while Santa Barbara dropped to 6-7 and 1-5 in the WSC.

After rolling to quick victories in Set 1 and 2, the Vikings stumbled in the third. SBCC jumped out to a 7-4 lead but had to hold off a late Long Beach rally. Leading 20-17, Shane Dyer came off the bench for the Vaqueros and served SBCC to the final five points.

Santa Barbara kept the momentum going in the fourth. The Vaqueros were up 6-2 before LBCC finally came back to tie the score at 10-10. With the score tied at 12, freshman Samuel Carlson (Lakewood HS) served up back-to-back aces as part of a 5-0 Long Beach run to give the Vikings the lead for good.

Sophomore setter Tim Davis (Lakewood HS) collected 52 assists while Carlson had a big match with 17 digs to go along with three aces.

Nick May posted 13 kills to lead Santa Barbara while Drew Hogan totaled 41 assists and 11 digs. 

Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Mar 21) when it hosts Los Angeles Trade-Tech College in a 6 p.m. WSC match.