Long Beach City College wins state semifinal volleyball thriller over Golden West

woodland hills >> Trailing two sets to one and just two points from its season ending, the Long Beach City College men’s volleyball team came up with a rally for the ages in Thursday night’s state semifinal match against Golden West at Pierce College.

The Vikings won five straight points in the fourth set to come back from the brink, then managed to eke out a five-set thriller, 25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 26-24, 15-12.

The Vikings were down 23-19 in the fourth set and on the brink of an upset loss, but top-seeded LBCC was able to dig deep thanks to some critical adjustments from coach Jonathan Charette, who used up his substitution by switching setters and servers to get the best ball control in mixed with the best offensive looks on alteating points.

A 3-0 run forced a Golden West timeout before the Vikings tied it at 23 on an ace from Andrew Pearson. LBCC ended up wiing the set 26-24 after a big-time spike from Lakewood High product Charles Belvin.

It was an up-and-down match from the start, as LBCC trailed in the first set before coming back to win it on kills by Belvin, Joshua Nehls, and Cesar Renteria. In the second and third sets, the Vikings led 23-21 in the second set and 22-21 in the third but lost both sets on hitting errors.

That put their backs against the wall in the fourth set, with Golden West leading the entire way until the Vikings’ late comeback.

The fifth set was just as dramatic, as LBCC got out to a 7-4 lead before Golden West came back to win the next three points to tie the match.

Golden West went on to take a 10-9 lead before a kill from Elai Mama tied it up again for the Vikings. After that, a pair of attack errors by Golden West put LBCC up 12-10, but the lead didn’t last long as Golden West tied it at 12, forcing a Long Beach timeout.

Finally, a kill from Pearson, an attack error from Golden West and a block from Belvin ended the rollercoaster ride and sent the Vikings to the championship match.

LBCC was led by Nehls, who had 24 kills on .320 hitting, and Belvin, who had 15 kills on just 22 swings. Jordan Molina provided some legitimately thrilling highlights from the libero position, with 27 digs including two pancake digs.

Golden West was led by Chase Palumbo’s 23 kills and Andrew Tenbrick’s 16 kills.

With the win, Long Beach (20-2) continues a 20-match win streak, and advances to Saturday’s state championship match against Orange Coast at Pierce.

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