Men's volleyball team falls in state semifinal
Apr 28, 2006
Long Beach City College and L.A. Pierce College will meet for the second time in three years for the state title in men’s volleyball.
After winning semifinal contests Friday night the two are set to play for the California Community Colleges COA Men’s Volleyball Championship Presented by U.S. Bank Saturday at 7 p.m. at Irvine Valley College.
Long Beach City defeated Pierce, 30-26, 30-26, 28-30, 30-32, 15-10) in the 2004 final.
That win by Long Beach stopped a string of four straight state titles for Pierce.
Long Beach City has won four state titles in its program history, while Pierce has captured eight crowns.
Long Beach City has already defeated Pierce twice this season in Western State Conference action.
The Vikings beat the Brahmas in five games and then in three games.
Long Beach City (17-0) reached the title match by beating Santa Monica in four games Friday night at Irvine Valley. The Vikings dropped the first game, but came on strong to win, 17-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-14.
Naseri Tumanuvao led Long Beach City with 16 kills. Sam Pech added 13 kills and six digs and Ryan Goerges chipped in with 11 kills. Brian Hiapo contributed 39 assists.
Santa Monica (11-7) was led by Russell Burns 20 kills and Nicholas Schrirripa’s 13 digs.
Pierce knocked off host Irvine Valley in the second semifinal Friday night, 25-21, 25-22, 22-25, 25-21, to reach the final. Pierce (13-5) was paced by David Hunt’s 20 kills and six digs. Chris Reyes had 12 kills and Joe Papadapolous finished with nine kills and eight blocks.
The Brahmas also got a strong performance from libero Jordan Hickle, who had 15 digs. Setter Kyle Luongo ended up with 53 assists.
Irvine Valley, which had its seven-match win streak halted, got 19 kills and five digs from Tyler Strickland and 12 kills and six blocks from Eric Eastman. Mike Bari added 42 assists and five blocks for the Lasers (12-5).