The Long Beach Vikings 19-30, 35-33, 30-27 and 30-26, Friday night at the Sports Pavilion.

The Vaqueros dominated the defending state champions in the first set after going on an 11-3 run to turn a four point lead into a score of 27-16. Long Beach’s 19 points in the first set tied their season low.

“The first game of that match was the best volleyball I have seen us play all year,” said Head Coach Melody Parker. “They were doing everything right.”

Despite the strong start, the Vaqueros didn’t want to get too ahead of themselves after just one set.

“We crushed them pretty badly, so we were excited going into the next game thinking we were going to do work,” said sophomore outside hitter Miles Evans. “But it was a close match so it was still anyone’s game.”

The second set wouldn’t be nearly as easy as the first for the Vaqueros. The score was tied 26 times through the set and neither team took a lead of more than three points.

Long Beach took a 33-32 lead and had set point, but a kill by Vaquero’s freshman outside hitter Pete Aronchick evened it up and seemed to give the Vaqueros the momentum needed to control.

But an error on a serve gave Long Beach another set point at 34-33 and then won the set after Miles Evans attempted to return the ball, but sent it into the net.

“I was mad at myself and it got to me a little bit,” Evans said. “But I needed to wipe my slate clean and play the next game.”

The Vikings managed to close out both sets when the pressure was on. Long Beach won the last four points in the third and five of the last six in the fourth set.

“They are starting to build that mental strength,” Parker said. “They are starting to develop some of that experience in these tight matches.”

Justin Hertlein led the Vaqs with 19 kills and Evans added 16 to his state leading total while also digging eight. Kaahukane Leite-AyYo set the duo up throughout the match with 55 assists.

City College must win its last two matches of the season to finish third in the WSC and have a shot at the playoffs.

“When it starts getting tough and play offs are coming close, you train for that challenge and revel in it,” Parker said. “You revel in it and you love it.”

The Vaqueros dropped to 3-5 in the Western State Conference and to 8-7 overall. Long Beach improved to 13-1 overall and 9-0 in the WSC. The Vikings have already clinched the conference title.