Follow
Libero Chad Kingi had a career-high 24 digs to help No. 5 UC Santa Barbara defeat No. 7 Long Beach State 16-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 15-12 in a highly defensive conference match Thursday in Long Beach, Calif.
Both teams finished the late-season match hitting less than .100 in two of the five games, including Long Beach State being held to a .048 attack percentage in the decisive fifth game. In addition, middle attacker Jeff Ornee in the loss led all players with 11 blocks, while UC Santa Barbara middle attacker Ryan Thompson finished with a team-high seven blocks.
UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State entered in a three-way tie with No. 3 Stanford for third place in the MPSF.
The Gauchos with the victory remain tied with the Cardinal for third place. Long Beach State having lost its last three matches now drops into a tie for fifth place with No. 6 UC Irvine.
Check out the video highlights from Off the Block special contributor Jonathan Bates of UC Santa Barbara’s victory against Long Beach State.