March 21, 2007
Men’s Volleyball:
Vikings threatened but rally for
3-2 win over Santa Monica
The Long Beach City College men’s volleyball team was pushed to five games for just the second time this season. Fortunately, the Vikings were able to pull out the 3-2 Western State Conference win over visiting Santa Monica College on Wednesday.
LBCC (11-0, 4-0 WSC) won the match by scores of 28-30, 30-17, 30-15, 26-30, and 15-11 to keep its perfect record intact and extend its winning streak to 29 games dating back to last season.
Santa Monica (7-5, 3-2 WSC) stunned the Vikings with its opening-game win before Long Beach regained control after cruising to victories in Game 2 and 3. SMC played tough in Game 4 for the win and looked poised to upset the Vikings in Game 5.
Santa Monica took advantage of three LBCC errors and surged to a 6-3 lead early in Game 5 and went up 9-6 before the Vikings turned the tide.
Long Beach outscored Santa Monica 9-2 the rest of the deciding game to rally for the win.
“We came out flat in the first game,” said LBCC head coach Randy Totorp. “And every team seems to step it up a notch when they play us. We got our focus back in Game 2 and 3 but lost it again in Game 4. It got a little scary early in the fifth, but I was confident the guys could pull it out.”
Sophomore outside hitter Naseri Tumanuvao had a huge night attacking, posting a team-high 18 kills to go along with 7 digs and 3 blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Derrick Seay led the Vikings with 11 digs and 5 aces and added 15 kills.
Sophomore middle blocker Richard Carmerlengo was big at the net, posting 10 blocks. He also added 9 kills, including five of them in the deciding fifth game. Sophomore opposite Adam Church also chipped in with 15 kills and 5 blocks.
Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Mar 23) when it hosts Moorpark in a WSC match at 6 pm. |
