March
24, 2004
Men’s
Volleyball:
Vikings
knock off defending state champ L.A. Pierce College
3-1
In
what could be a preview of the upcoming 2004 state
championship match, the Long Beach City College
men’s volleyball team defeated four-time
defending state champion Los Angeles Pierce College
3-1 at the Viking Gym on Wednesday night. With
the win, LBCC took over sole possession of first
place in the Western State Conference.
Long
Beach won the match by scores of 29-31, 30-27,
30-21, and won the final game in a 35-33 marathon.
In the momentum-swinging third game, Long Beach
held a narrow 15-12 lead before scoring eight
unanswered points behind the serving of sophomore
Jacob Hastert (St. John Bosco HS).
Sophomore
outside hitter Malu Seiuli (Jordan HS) led the
Vikings with 14 kills and added 6 blocks. Sophomore
outside hitter Thomas Vito (Waipahu HS) chipped
in with 13 kills and five blocks, while freshman
outside hitter Sam Pech (Jordan HS) had 12 kills
and 5 blocks. Freshman middle blocker Larry Taylor
(Jordan HS) had a team-high 8 blocks to go with
10 kills and freshman setter Garrett Morales (Millikan
HS) served up 65 assists.
With
the win, LBCC improved to 7-2 overall and 3-0
in the WSC. It was the Vikings’ fifth straight
win and sixth out of their last seven matches.
First-year
head coach Randy Totorp was extremely pleased
with how his team came together for this win.
“Earlier
in the year we experimented with a lot of different
lineups,” he said. “I think we finally
found the right team chemistry. We have a lot
of really good, unselfish athletes on this team
that have been working hard all season.”
“Our
team was definitely looking forward to this match,”
Totorp said. “And we look forward to playing
them again over at their place. We want what they’ve
done, we want to win a bunch of state titles in
row like Pierce and Golden West.”
L.A.
Pierce fell to 7-3 overall and is 3-1 in conference
play.
The
Vikings return to action on Friday (March 26)
when they host Santa Barbara City College for
a 6 pm conference match.
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