Long Beach City claims 10th state championship with title-match sweep
FULLERTON - No. 3 Long Beach City College staked their claim on the 2019 California Community College Athletic Association Men's Volleyball State Championship at Fullerton College Saturday night defeating No. 4 Irvine Valley College in three straight sets.
The Vikings avenged last season’s early exit in the CCCAA Final Four when they were favored to win it all as the undefeated No. 1 seed. Long Beach last won the state title in 2016 and now has the most titles under its belt with ten (1976, 1980, 1982, 1985, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2016, 2019).
Both teams stunned their higher-seeded opponents in the semifinals on Thursday (No. 1 Orange Coast and No. 2 El Camino) to make it to the title game. Long Beach overpowered Irvine Valley taking the final two sets in convincing fashion 25-22, 25-12, and 25-12.
In his seventh season as the Vikings head coach, Jonathan Charette earned his third state championship while leading the team to a 19-3 overall record.
Kyle Anema was named the State Championship MVP after hammering down a match-high 13 kills in the final.
LBCC’s Uriel Batista and Joseph Rocha were named to the All-State Tournament team. Bautista had 10 kills (a strong one to close out game one), and Rocha pumped out 33 assists.
The Lasers wrapped up their season with a respectable 15-8 overall record in Ryan Windisch’s first season as the head coach. Tristan Belsby and Declan Holder were both named to the All-State Tournament team. Belsby had 6 kills n the night.
Honored between game two and three was Long Beach State head coach Alan Knipe, who was inducted into the CCCAA Men's Volleyball Hall of Fame.
2019 CCCAA Men's Volleyball State Championship All-Tournament Team
MVP – Kyle Anema
Joseph Rocha – LBCC
Uriel Batista – LBCC
Declan Holder - IVC
Tristan Belsby - IVC
Kyle McCauley- Orange Coast
Cruz Padilla - El Camino