#2 Long Beach State Returns Home
49ers Achieve Highest Poll Ranking Since 2001
January 20, 2004 PDF VERSION of this RELEASE 5-1, 1-0 MPSF
Home: 2-0 • Away: 1-0 • Neutral: 2-1
No. 2 AVCA / No. 4 Volleyball Magazine
Quickly:
#2-ranked Long Beach State (5-1, 1-0) squares off against the #15-ranked Tigers of Pacific (1-5, 0-2) on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 7:30 p.m. in The Pyramid, followed by a date with #6-ranked Stanford (4-2) on Friday the 23rd at 7:30 in The Pyramid. Both matches can be heard live at www.longbeachstate.com.
Last Match:
The Long Beach State men's volleyball team cruised to an easy 3-0 MPSF road victory over the USC last Friday (1/16). Scott Touzinsky paced The Beach with a match-best 20 kills on 48 swings (four errors) for a .571 hitting percentage. Touzinsky also added six digs and four blocks. Jeff Wootton chipped in with a season-high 15 kills (.571 hitting percentage). Yassir Sliti (4 kills, three blocks), Tyler Hildebrand (three kills, 36 assists, six digs, three blocks), David Lee (three kills, six blocks), and Nate Hagstrom (three kills, six digs) highlighted the top 49er scoring. As a team, the 49ers connected for 50 kills (.395 attack percentage), 27 digs, and 9.0 total team blocks. The 49ers wrapped up non-conference play with a 3-1 victory over Cal Baptist on Tuesday (1/14) at The Pyramid. Clint Coe and Yassir Sliti paced The Beach with 12 kills each. Scott Touzinsky and David Lee rounded out the top 49er scoring with 10 kills each. Touzinsky also added two aces, giving him 128 for his career. Touzinsky is just four aces short of tying Brent Hilliard (132) for the all-time school record. Tyler Hildebrand recorded 57 assists, seven digs, and two kills. As a team, Long Beach State hit for a .341 attack percentage (64-20-129), and limited Cal Baptist to a .149 clip (55-34-141).
49ers Climb to #2:
Long Beach State (5-1, 1-0) jumped four slots to No. 2 in the latest AVCA poll released on Tuesday (1/20). The last time Long Beach State was ranked #2 in the AVCA poll was January 16 in 2001. Long Beach State moved up two spots to #4 in the latest Volleyball Magazine Poll released on Monday (1/19).
Ace in the Hole:
Senior Scott Touzinsky, as mentioned earlier, has compiled 12 aces this season, giving him 128 for his career. Touzinsky needs just 4 more aces to tie Brent Hilliard (132) for the all-time career mark in program history.
Touzinsky: 1,000 and Climbing:
Last season, Scott Touzinsky became just the 12th player in school history to record 1,000 career kills. Touzinsky collected 71 kills at the UCSB E-Bar Tournament (Jan. 9-10), including 29 versus Stanford (1/9) and a season-high 30 versus CS Northridge (1/10). His career-high for kills is 32. Touzinsky has passed Matt Prosser (1,147 kills), Geoff Cryst (1,167 kills), and recently Zack Small (1,169 kills) for No. 8 all-time on the 49er career kill chart with 1,198.
Wootton records #800:
Senior Jeff Wootton recorded his 800th career kill versus USC on Jan. 10 at the UCSB E-Bar Invite. Wootton slammed home a season-high 15 kills (.571 attack percentage) at USC on Jan. 16 in the MPSF opener. Wootton needs just 181 more kills to become the 13th player in Long Beach State history to reach the 1,000 kill mark.
Running the Offense:
Last year's AVCA Newcomer of the Year and MPSF Freshman of the Year, Tyler Hildebrand has netted 294 assists this season and 1,887 for his career. His 1,887 assists are sixth all-time at Long Beach State since 1998. Hildebrand is 113 assists away from becoming the sixth player in school history (since 1998) to record 2,000 or more career assists. Hildebrand collected a double-double (65 assists, 10 digs) versus CS Northridge on 1/10. He compiled 68 assists, four digs, and a career-high 2 block solos versus Stanford on Jan. 9. Hildebrand chipped in 36 assists, six digs, three blocks, and three kills at USC on 1/16. He is averaging 12.78 assists, 1.61 digs, and .52 blocks per game this season.
Lee Maintains .400 Hitting Percentage:
Entering the 2004 season David Lee compiled a career attack percentage of .415, 4th highest all-time at Long Beach State. This season Lee has 41 kills (16 errors) on 86 total attempts for a .291 attack percentage. Currently Lee's career hitting percentage stands at .406 (6th highest in program history). Lee connected for his 700th career kill in the season opener vs. La Verne (1/6).
Patrolling the Backrow:
Junior Paul Munoz has recorded a team-best 51 digs (2.22 per game average), including back-to-back 12 dig performances versus Stanford (1/9) and CS Northridge on 1/10.
Sliti Stuffs the Middle:
Junior Yassir Sliti has been steady at the middle blocker position this season, averaging 2.09 kills and and a team-best 1.04 blocks per game this season. Sliti recorded three block assists in the MPSF opener at USC on 1/16. He notched a match-high seven blocks versus Cal Baptist on 1/14 at The Pyramid. In fact Sliti has already eclipsed his career mark of two solo blocks with three already this season. Sliti has compiled 21 block assists (32 last season).
Depth Not an Issue at The Beach:
One of the luxuries head coach Alan Knipe has is his bench. Knipe has inserted Robert Tarr (2.39 kills/gm), Clint Coe (2.00 kills, .94 digs, .62 blocks/gm), Nate Hagstrom (.83 digs/gm), and Duncan Budinger (2.00 kills per game and a .692 attack percentage).
LBSU Nets High Percentage:
Long Beach State has hit for a .346 attack percentage this season, while limiting its opponents to just a .188 clip. The 49ers have compiled 338 kills for a 14.70 per game average. Long Beach State has hit over .350 three times this season including a .454 clip (75-16-130) vs. Stanford on Jan. 9 and a .395 clip at USC on Jan. 16 (50-16-86). The all-time best hitting percentage in program history was set by the 1992 squad (.377).
Long Beach State Establishes New (Modern) Record:
In its season opening victory over La Verne on Tuesday night, LBSU cruised to a 30-9 game one victory. The nine points allowed by the 49ers were the fewest in any game in the 30-point rally scoring system in program history. In fact all nine points scored by La Verne came off Long Beach State miscues. So in the old side-out 15-point system, the 49ers would have taken game one 15-0. |
