Long Beach State Holds Off UC Irvine, 3-2
Feb. 24, 2010
Long Beach, Calif. - No. 11 UC Irvine struggled offensively as No. 9 Long Beach State defeated the Anteaters, 3-2 (28-30, 30-20, 30-23, 28-30, 15-12) at the Walter Pyramid Wednesday.
UCI (8-9, 4-8), the MPSF's second best hitting team, hit a season-low .205 (55-25-146) for the match and had 25 service errors. UCI is now 0-5 this season in five-game matches. The Forty-Niners (7-6, 5-4) hit .287 and out-dug the Anteaters, 50-46. UCI won the battle at the net, out-blocking LBSU 15.5 to 10.5.
Long Beach State's Tommy Pestolesi led all players with a season-high 24 kills, hitting .488 and recording nine digs. Dean Bittner had 16 kills and six blocks while Dan Alexander recorded 11 kills and Antwain Aguillard added 10 kills. Kirk Francis collected a match-best 13 digs.
Carson Clark led UCI with 15 kills and four service aces followed by Kevin Carroll who sparked UCI in the final two sets with 14 kills, hitting .444 (14-2-27). Jordan DuFault recorded 12 kills and Cory Yoder totaled seven kills and a team-high nine digs in three sets. Middle blocker Kevin Wynne recorded eight total blocks.
Carson Clark fired two service aces and the Anteaters started the first set with a 2-0 lead. UCI continued to lead 22-18 until Long Beach State went on a 6-1 run to take their first lead, 24-23.The teams would trade points until UCI used another ace by Clark and a block by Kevin Wynne and Cory Yoder to regain the 28-26 advantage. Kevin Wynne would hit the set winner from the middle, 30-28.
The second set was all Long Beach as the Forty-Niners out-hit the Anteaters, .500 to .150. LBSU jumped out to an 8-4 lead and went on to the 30-20 victory. Tommy Pestolesi had five kills to lead the Beach.
In the third set with the score tied 14-14, Long Beach stretched the lead to 18-15 on a pair of kills by Pestolesi, a block and a UCI hitting error. Dean Bittner put away seven kills for the Beach who took the set, 30-23.
UCI trailed in the fourth set until Kevin Carroll entered the match and ignited the Anteaters with six kills and two service aces. UCI trailed 25-23 but would out-score the Beach, 7-3 to end the set which included three kills and a pair of service aces for the final two points by Carroll, 30-28.
In the fifth set, UCI took a 10-6 advantage on back to back kills by Carroll. The Anteaters continued to lead 11-7 before the Forty-Niners rallied on two aces, a block and a UCI attack error to take the 12-11 lead. Long Beach won the match scoring the last three points, 15-12.
With the win, LBSU takes a 14-10 lead in the Black & Blue Rivalry Series presented by Duke's of Huntington Beach.
