LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Concordia Men's Volleyball team looked to unseat the top team in the country on Friday night, but the all-around performance for Long Beach State earned themselves the win by a score of 25-20, 25-14, 25-13.
 
Raymond Barsemian led the way for the Eagles producing a team-high 12 kills while Hunter Howell had four kills with no errors hitting .364. Jacob Weiser notched his third double-digit dig performance of the season collecting 10, and Chandler Gibb led with 18 assists.
 
Concordia was toe-to-toe with No. 1 Long Beach State in the first set where the Eagles were within two at 5-3. Then Concordia went on a 7-2 run featuring kills by Barsemian, Howell and Jonathan Predney and a block from Barsemian and Alec Krilis on the reigning AVCA National Player of the Year giving them a 10-7 lead. Small runs by the 49ers brought them back into the set guiding them to an 18-15 lead. Concordia had a 4-1 run of their own to bring them within one at 21-20 before Long Beach State stormed away taking the last four points of the set.
 
Long Beach State had the momentum in the second set as they sprinted out to a 9-1 lead before forcing Concordia into a timeout. The 49ers were able to take advantage of their strong defensive as they converted digs off of strong Eagles attacks into 49er kills putting them up 19-5. Then two LBSU errors and a kill from Josiah Bergt put CUI on a run, making it 19-8. The Eagles chipped away at the 49er's lead from kills by Barsemian and Howell at 24-14, but it was not enough comeback to take the set.
 
Behind three service errors and a Barsemian kill, Concordia had the third set at 4-4. From there, Long Beach State's strong offense took over. Kills by Barsemian and Predney made it 12-8 before the 49ers went on a 5-0 run to stretch their lead to seven. Concordia took advantage of a long rally featuring many great defense plays ending up with a block by Howell at Darcy Taig to make it 21-11. Three-straight Long Beach State kills made it 24-11 before Concordia fought off two match-points, then ending the match on a service error of their own.
 
Concordia falls to 3-3 on the season while Long Beach State remains undefeated at 10-0. A tough task is at hand next week for the Eagles as they host No. 2 UCLA, UC San Diego and No. 12 Pepperdine on consecutive days from February 8-10 in CU Arena.