LONG BEACH, Calif. – Long Beach State out-lasted UC Irvine 3-2 (25-21, 27-25, 21-25, 22-25, 15 ) at the Walter Pyramid Saturday.

Both teams played five-set matches last night with UCI (11-7, 4-4) falling to 2-4 when going the distance. The Beach is 5-1 in five set matches, including winning the last three in five.

The Long Beach State (10-6, 5-3) block was key, besting UCI at the net 15-9.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Juniors Onye Ofoegbu and Joy Umeh led UCI with 18 kills each. Ofeogbu had a team-best seven total blocks (2 solo, 5 assisted)
>Sophomore Emma Spindt had eight kills followed by Kiani Stanton with six and Marianna Bertolone with five
>Libero Campbell Jensen totaled 21 digs and two aces
>Long Beach State was paced by Morgan Chacon's 17 kills, 11 digs and four blocks
>LBSU out-hit UCI .217-.146

FIRST SET
>LBSU started with the first two points, but UCI answered with the next four on kills by Joy Umeh and Kiani Stanton, an ace by Marianna Bertolone and a Beach attack error, 4-2
>The Anteaters would sneak out to a 9-7 lead on a kill by Onye Ofoegbu and a Beach attack error
>Back-to-back kills by Umeh extended the lead to 12-8
>LBSU would erase the deficit with the help of two UCI errors and tie the set at 13
>A 4-1 run by The Beach moved Long Beach in front 22-20
>An ace would give Long Beah State the set, 25-21

SECOND SET
>The teams would remain close until Long Beach State used a kill and two blocks to create space, 10-7
>A block by Ofoegbu and Ellen Veargason and a Beach attack that sailed long helped UCI knot the set at 13-13
>Three consecutive kills by The Beach moved LBSU in front 18-16 forcing a UCI timeout
>The Anteaters would tie the set once again on a kills by Umeh and Stanton, 19-19
>Two UCI errors, the last a Beach block gave the advantage back to LBSU, 22-20
>A kill and solo block by Ofoegbu evened the score, 22-22
>Long Beach would hold set point 24-22, but the Anteaters answered with a kill by Ofoegbu and a Beach attack error, 24-24
>After trading points a set was too close to the net and feel on the UCI side, giving Long Beach the 27-25 win

THIRD SET
> UCI jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead on a Bertolone kill
>Two kills by Ofoegbu and a block by Ofoefgu and Veargason made it 10-7
>The Beach would score three in a row, two on UCI errors and go in front 12-11
>A LBSU service error was followed by kills from Emma Spindt and Umeh, 16-15
>A block by Umeh and Stanton forced a LB timeout, 21-19
>UCI would score the final three points of the set, a kill by Spindt and back-to-back blocks, 25-21

FOURTH SET
>Two Campbell Jensen aces and two Beach attack errors propelled the Anteaters to a 4-0 lead and they extended the gap to 6-1
>Long Beach State rallied on a 5-1 run to close to 7-6
>UCI would then use a kill and ace by Ofoegbu followed by a LBSU attack error, 10-6
>Umeh would sky for a kill, 12-8
>A 5-0 spurt which included two kills each by Umeh and Spindt gave UCI a 17-10 advantage
>LBSU would inch to 19-16 before Spindt would hammer a ball and a Beach player would go in to the net, 21-16
>A pair of Bertolone kills pushed the margin to 23-18
>Three consecutive Beach kills was cause for a UCI timeout, 23-21
>A Beach error gave UCI the 25-22 victory

FIFTH SET
>Three UCI errors helped Long Beach jump out quickly until Stanton punched one over to get UCI on the board, 3-1
>Behind the serving of Sofia Skukan, UCI rallied and would go ahead on a Stanton kill, 7-6
>Long Beach would answer with the next five to regain control 11-6
>The Anteaters wouldn't go away, scoring four of the next five to creep within 12-11
>Long Beach would end the match scoring three of the last four points, 15-12

UP NEXT
UCI returns home to host CSU Bakersfield Friday (Oct. 21) at 5:00 p.m. in the Bren Events Center.