Men’s Volleyball: Long Beach season ends with 3-1 state semifinal loss to Grossmont

Grossmont College upset Long Beach City College by a final score of 3-1 in Semifinal No. 1 of the 2011 California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Men's Volleyball State Championship on Wednesday night at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.

Grossmont, the No. 2 seed out of the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference, lost the opening set 17-25 before rallying to take the final three 25-16, 25-22, and 25-22 to secure the school's first ever appearance in the State Championship final.

Long Beach, the top seed from the Western State Conference, looked impressive in its opening set as the Vikings compiled a .370 hitting percentage. LBCC jumped out to a 19-10 lead and never looked back. But that didn't faze Grossmont. The Griffins bounced back from a .000 hitting percentage in the opener and responded with an easy 25-16 victory in Set 2.

"We've had a lot of matches this year where we lost the first set and won three in a row," said Grossmont head coach Fred Featherstone. "These kids are fearless and tough mentally. Getting their butts kicked in the opener didn't bother them."

LBCC rallied late in the second to get within two points (15-13) but Grossmont took advantage of seven Long Beach errors and closed out the set win with a kill by outside hitter Shalimar Buchanan to swing momentum ultimately in their favor.

"You could see s shift from team play in the first set to more individual play in the second," said LBCC head coach Randy Totorp. "It's the same thing that happened to us (in our losses) against Santa Monica and Santa Barbara."

Set 3 saw Long Beach jumped ahead 4-1 before Grossmont came back to take its first lead, 10-9, after a kill by outside hitter Jorge Cabrera. LBCC briefly took the lead late at 16-15, but Grossmont outscored the Vikings 10-7 down the stretch for the win.

And it was more of the same in Set 4. The Vikings held a narrow 10-8 lead after a kill from outside hitter Parker Del Re. But Grossmont rallied for six straight points behind the serving of of Cabrera to jump ahead 14-10. A kill from Del Re got Long Beach within one late at 23-22, but a service error by Dylan Marquess and a hitting error by Del Re gave Grossmont the set and match.

"There were a lot of unforced errors on both sides," Featherstone said. "Luckily we made less. Who knows what would have happened if Long Beach had won Set 4."

Long Beach closes its season with a 13-5 record. Del Re led the Vikings with 13 kills and Max Wechsung chipped in with 11 kills. Marquess had eight digs and Chris Austin led LBCC with 34 assists.

Jose Mendoza led Grossmont (16-4) with 13 kills while Jacob Haar added 12 kills. Kyle Wullf led the Griffins with eight digs and Shane Beatty totaled 49 assists. Grossmont will face Irvine Valley College at 7 pm on Friday (Apr. 22) in the State Championship final.