After a historic season, the Long Beach City College women’s volleyball team saw its season end Friday night in a 25-17, 19-25, 25-22, 25-22 loss to Feather River in the 3C2A State Championship quarterfinals at Mt. San Antonio College. It was LBCC’s first trip to the state tournament in 24 seasons.
The Vikings (23-2) rode into the state championship on a 9-game win streak and met the Golden Eagles who were also riding a 9-game win streak.
Early on the Golden Eagles jumped out to an 11-8 lead thanks to Chloe Albiez who had an early five kills.
“They’ve been here before, our team hasn’t so with their experience it really showed in the first set,” LBCC coach Tyler Jackson said. “We came out a little timid, but then we started playing like ourselves throughout the night.”
After dropping the first set, the Vikings shook off some of the early set jitters as Tainea Allen had a couple kills to give the Vikings a 18-15 lead.
Ryannah Gagau got in the action as she dropped in a kill to give LBCC a 4-point lead as they went onto win set 25-19 to tie the match at a set apiece.
In the third set, Feather River responded every time the Vikings attempted to mount a comeback and it was led by Albiez who had a match-high 20 kills.
“I’m proud of our girls,” Jackson said. “They fought to the very end.”
LBCC continued to claw their way back in the fourth set looking to push the match to a fifth set, but after talking a 15-11 lead, Feather River went on a 14-7 run to clinch the match.
Along with Albiez, Ane Tuinauvai had a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs.
For LBCC, Gagau had a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs, while Allen had 11 kills. Enaya Vaielua had 27 assists and 9 digs.
LBCC Soccer
The Vikings’ men’s soccer team was in Sacramento for the State Tournament, where they fell in the semifinals. It was LBCC’s first-ever trip to the state semifinals, and they were stopped short 1-0 by Butte College with the game-winner scored in the 87th minute.
