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LONG BEACH – All three set sweeps in volleyball aren’t necessarily as one-sided as they look.
Long Beach State took a 28-26, 26-24 and 25-14 win over UC Irvine at the Walter Pyramid Saturday night, the first two sets coming down to a sliver of good play and good fortune by the 49ers.
The No. 2 ranked 49ers, who beat the Anteaters in four sets Friday in Irvine, used 13 kills, three aces, three digs and a block from Kyle Ensing for their Saturday win. TJ DeFalco and Nick Amado had nine kills each and Josh Tuaniga had nine digs and 36 assists without an error.
“Those were two good back-to-back wins against a good team that battled,” head coach Alan Knipe said after the win that improved the 49ers to 21-1 and 6-0 in Big West play.
“Our offense struggled in the first set but our serving and defense bailed us out. I always say that if one part of your game isn’t working, the other parts can sometimes be that which gets it going. We showed a lot of grit and fight to come back to win the second set.”
“We do find energy late in matches, but we really want to punch the opponent in the face in the first set, and make them play our game,” said libero Jordan Molina.
The first set saw both teams use runs to get a lead or get back into the game – the 49ets an early 5-0 and late 6-1, and UC Irvine a 4-0 ad 5-1 of their own. The set was tied at 20 when the 49ers finally were able to subdue the Anteaters. They had four set-point opportunities but the Anteaters rallied for ties each time.
Tied at 26, Ensing dropped a back row kill and Irvine’s Aaron Koubi’s kill attempt caught the antennae to give the 49ers the set. UC Irvine challenged the call but the replay monitor wasn’t conclusive enough to change the initial call.
UC Irvine outplayed the 49ers for most of the second set. They had a three-point lead midway through and sustained that edge to a 22-18 lead. The set could have been over if the Anteaters hadn’t committed seven service errors.
Long Beach hit the accelerator and outscored UC Irvine 8-2 down the stretch. DeFalco had a kill and an ace to start it and Ensing had back-to-back kills, sandwiched around two Irvine errors. Down 24-23, Ensing scored to tie it, Amado was at the center of a triple block of UC Irvine’s Joel Apfelbach, and the Anteaters muffed DeFalco’s serve on game point.
The 49ers ran off to a quick 9-4 lead in the third set and used an 8-2 run to end the set and claim the match. It was the seventh loss in eight matches for UC Irvine (14-9), who has been without outside hitter Joel Schneidmiller for four matches with an arm injury.
Schneidmiller was the freshman of the year in the Big West in 2018 and led the Anteaters in kills with a 3.6 average and a team-high 41 aces.
“In this situation, you gave a Plan A if he plays and a Plan B if he doesn’t,” Knipe said. “You don’t usually have access to injury information so you prepare for anything.”
UC Irvine expects Schneidmiller to return but has no timetable. “The fortunate thing about the injury is the timing,” Anteaters coach David Kniffin said. “We got to test the adjustments we have to make against a great team. I thought we played well enough to win the first two sets.
“It would be a strong statement to say anyone is comparable to TJ (DeFalco), but Joel has been a big part of our success and our identity. I’ve stressed to the team that we need to play the best brand of UC Irvine volleyball while he’s out, which I think can be competitive with anyone.”
The 49ers have four regular seasons games left, a home-and-home with UC San Diego next weekend and then two home games against No. 1-ranked Hawaii April 12-13.
UC Irvine has home-and-home matches against Northridge and UC Santa Barbara to end their season. The Big West Tournament, which all six teams compete for, is April 18-20 at Hawaii.
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