Outside hitter Matthew Pennala started the Vikings’ Men’s Volleyball conference off with a bang on Wednesday, getting five aces to start the first set against Moorpark.
Long Beach swept Moorpark in a dominant three sets in their first game of the conference.
The Vikings defeated Moorpark in the first set 25-12 with crucial kills coming from Matthew Pennala, Georgi Binev, Lucca Mamone, and Cian Slade.
“We came out firing today,” said Pennala, “as you can see, strings of aces and a lot of first ball side outs.”
The second set had a similar outcome as the first, with the Vikings winning 26-16.
Sophomore setter Sean Nguyen displayed great connection with his teammates as he set them up perfectly for kills all game, as well as taking the occasional opportunity to dump the ball over the net.
“Overall I think my connection with everyone is great, but still I think we could be even better,” said Nguyen.
The third set ended with the Vikings defeating Moorpark 25-17 and Binev getting the final kill.
Binev led the Vikings in kills scoring 11 with Pennala close behind with nine, Slade followed with 6 and Oliver had five.
Oliver led the team in serving aces with 10 points followed by Pennala with nine, Zavala with eight, and Binev with seven.
“We really wanted to establish our team as a threat going forward and I think those aces I had at the beginning of the set were really a good way to establish that,” said Pennala.
The Vikings’ next game is March 3 at Santa Monica at 6:00 p.m.