Long Beach State Men's Volleyball Dethrones Champs in 5 Sets, Advances to Final

PROVO - There will be no repeat national champions in men’s volleyball as Long Beach State finally was able to best the defending national champions UC Irvine Anteaters 25-22, 22-25, 20-25, 25-15, 22-20 Saturday night in one semifinal of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament.  The Anteaters defeated the Beach in the first three meetings earlier in the year between the two teams.

The Beach (24-7) extended its winning streak to seven games as it records its best season since 2004, and makes its first MPSF tournament final appearance since 2006.

Junior All-American Taylor Crabb led the way for the Beach, registering 23 kills and 11 digs. Ian Satterfield added 11 kills while Colten Echave tallied 10 kills to help the Beach advance against the host and top seed BYU who defeated #4 seed UCLA in the nightcap.

After taking the first set which featured seven ties, the Beach was able to use a 6-2 run to pull away 23-18. Irvine went on a 4-0 run to close the gap but then gave two points back to seal the set for the Beach.

Irvine (23-7) won the next two sets.  In the second set, the Anteaters led 16-11 behind an 8-4 run. The Beach responded with a 6-2 run to close the gap to 19-18 but Irvine was able to pull away to take the second set 22-25.

Kyle Russell led the way for the Anteaters with 17 kills and 15 digs.  Zack La Cavereca added 13 kills while Colin Mehring tallied 11 in the losing effort.

In a closer third set, UCI led by no more than three points at any time, and had to use a last minute push, going on a 5-2 run to close out the set to win 20-25.

The beach had to come from behind in the fourth set as it came back after falling behind 6-2 prompting coach Alan Knipe to call a time out.  The Beach then came out of the gates after the timeout going on a 15-5 to take a 17-11 lead and never looked back.

After taking a 14-10 lead to seemingly win the fifth and final set, the Beach found out why the Anteaters are the national champs as they allowed Irvine to score four unanswered points to tie the match at 14-14.  The two teams would then swap six match points, featuring six ties and four lead changes until Long Beach would finally break through with a UCI service error and a block by Crabb and Taylor Gregory to seal 22-20 victory.

Saturday’s championship match guarantees the winner an automatic berth to Next weekend’s Final Four, and possibly the lone at-large bid.  First serve is at 6 pm (PDT)