Reports From LBCC
 

The Long Beach City College men’s volleyball team kept its top spot in the Western State Conference following a three-game sweep of visiting Santa Barbara City College on Wednesday night at LBCC.

 

Long Beach won the match by scores of 35-30, 30-22, and 30-27 to extend its winning streak to five. The Vikings lead the WSC standings at 3-0 and are 9-1 overall.

 

Santa Barbara pushed Long Beach early and held a 16-12 advantage. But the Vikings put together a 7-1 run, led by four kills from sophomore outside hitter Torand Cheltenham, and jumped ahead of Santa Barbara 19-17.

 

SBCC wouldn’t go down easy. The Vaqueros rallied late and held game point at 30-29, 31-30, and 32-31 but couldn’t put the Vikings away. With the score tied 33-33, a kill by freshman outside hitter Rob McLean put LBCC in front and an attack error from Santa Barbara’s Justin Hertlein gave Long Beach the game one win.

 

From that point, it was all Long Beach as the Vikings rolled to a quick win in game two, and pulled out the sweep after holding off SBCC in the third.

 

Freshman outside hitter/setter Chris Austin led the Vikings with 11 kills to go with 19 assists, nine digs, and three blocks. McLean posted 10 kills, seven digs, and five blocks, while freshman Tyler Salcedo led LBCC with 27 assists.

 

For Santa Barbara (6-4, 1-2 WSC), Pete Aronchick led the Vaqueros with 22 kills. Kaahukane Leite-AhYo had a match-high 42 assists, and Andrew Thompson led SBCC with 11 digs.

 

Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Mar. 12) when it travels to El Camino College for a 6 p.m. WSC match.