Freshman Andrew Pearson (Huntington Beach HS) totaled 10 kills and seven digs to help lead Long Beach City College to a 25-17, 25-12, 25-23 sweep of visiting San Diego Mesa College on Wednesday in a non-conference match at LBCC. After dropping their first two matches of the season, Long Beach has now won six straight to improve to 6-2 overall.
The Vikings set the tone early, jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead in the opening set against San Diego Mesa (1-4). Later in the first, holding a narrow 21-17 lead, a kill by freshman Travis O'Gorman (East Northport, NY/Northport HS) and three Mesa attack errors gave LBCC the opening victory.
O'Gorman and the Vikings took over in the second set. He totaled six kills in leading LBCC to the 13-point win.
But it was a much closer contest in the third set. With Long Beach leading 14-9, Mesa rallied to tie up the match at 16 and would take a 20-19 lead after a kill by Travis Doyle. But a block by Cesar Renteria (Bell HS) and Austin Amian (Kaneohe, HI/Moanalua HS), combined with three Mesa errors put the Vikings back out in front 23-20. On match point, Pearson closed out the victory with a booming kill to extend Long Beach's winning streak.
Renteria and O'Gorman both had seven kills for the Vikings while Gary Trejo (Warren HS) totaled 30 assists.
Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Feb. 26) when the Vikings travel to San Diego City College for a 6 p.m. non-conference match.
