Reports From LBCC
 

The defending state champion Long Beach City College men’s volleyball team rolled to a 3-1 win over visiting Santa Monica College in both teams’ Western State Conference opener on Wednesday night at LBCC.

 

Long Beach extending its winning streak to four matches and won tonight over Santa Monica by scores of 30-25, 30-27, 26-30, and 30-27 to improve to 7-1 overall and 1-0 in the WSC.

 

Santa Monica stormed out to a 6-2 advantage in set one before the Vikings rallied to take its first lead at 10-9. From that point, it was all Long Beach.

 

Freshman outside hitter Rob McLean had all nine of his kills over the first two sets to lead LBCC early.

 

Santa Monica wouldn’t go down easy. With the score tied 11-11 in game three, SMC rallied to outscore Long Beach 13-6 to jump ahead 24-17 before extending the match with the set win.

 

Freshman Randy Preval was nearly unstoppable in set four, as he posted six of his team-high 16 kills to lead Long Beach to the win.

 

Head coach Randy Totorp was pleased with his team’s effort.

 

“Coming off our win at Irvine Valley last week, I felt it was important that we came out and played consistently which we did in game one and two,” Totorp said. “Santa Monica played the best defense against us that we have seen all season. We did some good things tonight, but they played us well.”

 

Freshman middle blocker Kris Johnson also chipped in with 13 kills with two blocks. Sophomore libero Troy Crutchfield totaled a match-high 23 digs, while freshman Chris Austin posted 28 assists and seven kills.

 

For Santa Monica (2-5. 0-1 WSC), Jeff Saguin led the Corsairs with 16 kills. Jake Denitz had 57 assists and Sammy Wong totaled 15 digs.

 

Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Mar. 5) when it travels to Moorpark College for a 6 p.m. WSC match.