PEPPERDINE TOPS BEACH IN PLAYOFFS
LBSU Ends its Season at 17-13
MALIBU, CA – The No. 1 seeded Pepperdine Waves ended the No. 8 seeded Long Beach State men's volleyball season, with a 3-0 sweep in the first round of the MPSF playoffs at the Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday night. Game scores were 32-30, 30-25, 30-20.
Long Beach State ends its season with a 17-13 mark, while the Waves advance with an overall record of 23-4.
David Lee led The Beach with a team-high 17 kills, while Scott Touzinsky (11 kills, 12 digs), and Jeff Wootton (10 kills), rounded out the top 49er scoring. Paul Munoz led LBSU with 14 digs. Tyler Hildebrand set-up the offense with a match-best 51 assists. LBSU hit .287 as a team (56k-23e-115ta).
Sean Rooney keyed the Pepperdine offense with a match-best 19 kills, while teammate Brad Keenan had 16 kills.
Blocking was once again the edge for Pepperdine, as it was in both previous meetings this season with The Beach. The Waves managed to out-block LBSU, 13.0 - 1.0. Fred Winters and Rooney both had two solo blocks, as well.
Pepperdine rallied from an improbable 29-26 deficit to win game one, and the momentum was all Waves after the come-from-behind effort.
Trailing by a 29-26 count, Pepperdine rallied to take a 30-29 lead thanks to a pair of Long Beach State hitting errors and kills by Keenan and junior outside hitter Fred Winters.
A serving error by Winters tied the game at 30-30, but Rooney hammered down two consecutive kills to cap the impressive Pepperdine rally.
Pepperdine jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead in the second game and maintained an advantage throughout.
The 49ers closed within a 23-22 count following a kill by junior outside hitter Jeff Wootton, but Pepperdine scored seven of the next 10 points to close out the game.
The Waves controlled the third game, as Pepperdine hit at a .480 clip while Long Beach State committed 11 errors and hit only .094. BOX SCORE
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