49ers Host Pepperdine And USC
January 24, 2006
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LONG BEACH STATE MEN'S VOLLEYBALL | Overall: 7-0 / MPSF: 3-0 / National Rank: #1 | Pepperdine at Long Beach State
Thursday, January 26, 7:30 pm, Walter Pyramid
Internet Radio: www.longbeachstate.com | USC at Long Beach State
Friday, Januar 27, 7:30 pm, Walter Pyramid
Internet Radio: www.longbeachstate.com |
THE RECORDS
•Beach a perfect 7-0 thus far
Long Beach State, ranked No. 1 in the country for the third consecutive week, will be home for two matches this week. The 49ers, 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the MPSF, will host No. 3 Pepperdine (3-0/3-0) on Thursday night and No. 13 USC (3-3/2-1) on Friday evening. Both matches begin at 7:30 pm in the Walter Pyramid.
THE COACH
•Alan Knipe enters his sixth year at head coach
Alan Knipe (Long Beach State, 1992) is 105-55 (.656) in five-plus years as the head coach at Long Beach State. Knipe was an assistant at LBSU for five years before taking over the program in 2001.
THE SERIES
•49ers trail series with Pepperdine, 37-32
•49ers trail series with USC, 47-37
Long Beach State trails in its series with Pepperdine by a 37-32 count. The Waves won two of three matches last year against Long Beach. Pepperdine won 31-29, 30-21, 30-27 in the MPSF Championship in Malibu on April 30. The 49ers knocked off the No. 1-ranked Waves 31-29, 30-27, 30-26 on March 31 in Long Beach and Pepperdine won the first meeting of the year in malibu on January 27 30-28, 26-30, 33-31, 30-32, 16-14. The 49ers have won the last 10 meetings with USC, including two wins last season. Long Beach prevailed 30-23, 3-0-18, 25-30, 27-30, 17-15 on January 29 at USC and won easily in Long Beach on April 2 30-22, 30-26, 30-23.
TWO WINS LAST WEEK
•49ers 3-0 in the MPSF
Long Beach State rolled to two road wins last week, winning at Stanford (3-1) and at Pacific (3-0). In Palo Alto, Robert Tarr had 21 kills and Duncan Budinger 13 as the 49ers won 30-22, 30-21, 27-30, 30-22. LBSU hit .403 in the match and out-blocked the Cardinal 15.0 to 6.0. Paul Lotman and Teddy Liles both contributed 11 kills and Tyler Caldwell had 10 digs. Liles had nine total blocks and Tarr six. Saturday at Pacific the 49ers won 30-23, 30-23, 39-37. Tarr had 28 kills and five block assists in the three-game sweep and Budinger added 12 kills and five blocks. The 49ers hit .438 and out-blocked the Tigers 15.0 to 7.0. Tyler Hildebrand had 58 assists, four digs and five block assists.
ROAD WARRIORS
•49ers are 6-0 away from home
The 49ers are home this week for two matches, but just their second and third on the season. The 7-0 49ers are 6-0 away from the Walter Pyramid this season. Last season the 49ers were 9-8 away from home, but won five of its last seven matches on the road.
OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER
•49ers hitting .353 this year
The 49ers have been impressive on offense this year as they are hitting .353 and averaging 16.64 kills per game. Five players are averaging at least 2.40 kills per game as setter Tyler Hildebrand has distributed the ball evenly to his lineup. Four starters are hitting .350 or better as well. Last weekend the 49ers hit an impressive .420 (132-35-231) in victories at Stanford and Pacific. Long Beach has hit .400 or better in each of its last three matches and four times total this season.
WALTER PYRAMID ADVANTAGE
•49ers 1-0 at home this year
The Walter Pyramid has been kind to the 49ers. Last year the 49ers were 13-2 at home and in 2004 they were 15-2. In the last two-plus years the 49ers are 29-4 (.879) at home. Overall since 1995 the 49ers are 128-32 (.800) at home.
PUTTING UP A WALL
•Beach averaging 4.10 blocks per game
The 49ers have been very impressive at the net this year as they are averaging 4.10 blocks per game. The 49ers are out-blocking their opponents 4.10 to 2.24 per game and have out-blocked six of their seven opponents this season. In the win over UCLA they recorded a season-high 19.5 team blocks (3 BS, 33 BA). Five players are averaging at least 1.00 blocks per game (Liles 1.92, Budinger 1.56, Tarr 1.28, Hildebrand 1.16, Lotman 1.00). Last year the 49ers averaged 2.50 blocks per game.
PICKING UP SWEEPS
•Four 3-0 sweeps this year
The 49ers have recorded four 3-0 sweeps this season through their first seven matches. They have been extended to five games just once (CS Northridge). The 49ers have a cumulative games record of 21-4 thus far.
HILDEBRAND ON CAREER CHART
•Third all-time with 5,335 assists
Senior Tyler Hildebrand (Mesa, AZ) has had a brilliant career thus far and is looking to close things out with a 2006 National Championship. Hildebrand, a two-time first team All-American, stands third all-time at Long Beach State with 5,335 career assists. Standing ahead of him in the No. 2 spot is Chris Seiffert (1997-00) who registered 6,099 career assists. Hildebrand's 1,613 assists last season was the fifth-best single season performance in school history. This season he is averaging 14.24 assists per game, including a season-high 74 assists in the five-game win over CS Northridge. Hildebrand is moving up the all-time blocking chart at LBSU as he has 265 career blocks, good for No. 17 all-time.
BUDINGER RANKS NO. 1 IN HITTING
•Career .538 hitting percentage
Senior middle blocker Duncan Budinger (Encinitas) had 25 kills in the two wins this past weekend and hit an impressive .639 (25-2-36). He raised his hitting percentage up to .538 this season and is averaging 2.88 kills and 1.56 blocks per outing. In the win over Pacific he hit .611 (12-1-18) with five block assists and at Stanford he hit .667 (13-1-18) with five block assists and two service aces. Budinger continues to rank No. 1 at LBSU in hitting percentage as he now stands at .480. He also moved up to No. 11 in career blocking with 316 blocks and he is heading towards 1,000 career kills, as he stands at 832.
TARR LEADS IN KILLS
•Leads team with 140 kills
Senior Robert Tarr (Rockledge, FL) pounded down 49 kills (7.00 kpg) in the two wins last weekend. He had 21 in the win at Stanford and then came back with 28 kills in the three-game sweep at Pacific. He also added 11 total blocks in the two matches. Tarr leads the 49ers in kills, averaging 5.60 kills per game. He has hit double digits in kills in six of the seven matches this year. Tarr surpassed the 1,000 career kill mark in the second match of the season and currently stands at No. 13 all-time with 1,099 career kills. Tarr, an all-tournament pick at the UCSB/E-Bar Tournament, recorded a season-high 35 kills against CS Northridge in the tournament semi-finals. He had 21 in the title victory over UCLA. Tarr led the 49ers in kills last season with 545 (4.87 kpg) en route to being named first team AVCA All-American.
LILES A FORCE AT THE NET
•Led 49ers in blocking with 48 blocks
Junior Teddy Liles (Tucson, AZ) continues to be a force at the net thus far for the 49ers as he leads the team in blocking with 48 blocks (1.92 bpg). Last week he recorded nine blocks at Stanford and seven at Pacific. He hit .500 (11-3-16) at Stanford and had seven kills at UOP. Liles is averaging 2.52 kills per game and is hitting an impressive .480 (63-15-100). Liles was named to the UCSB/E-Bar All-Tournament team after averaging 2.50 kills and 1.92 blocks per game and hitting .521 (30-5-48). In the championship match win over UCLA he had 11 kills and 12 blocks while hitting .526 (11-1-19). The 12 blocks against the Bruins was a career-high for him.
LOTMAN MAKES AN IMPACT
•Career-high 13 kills vs. USC
Sophomore Paul Lotman (Lakewood) has started every match this season for the 49ers and is averaging 2.40 kills per game while hitting .291. This weekend he averaged 2.86 kills and 1.86 digs per game while hitting .385 (20-5-39). He had 11 kills, six digs, three aces and three blocks assists at Stanford. Against Pacific he had nine kills and seven digs while hitting .471 (9-1-17). Lotman had a career-high 13 kills in the 49ers season-opening win over USC. He also added seven digs and hit .500 (13-3-20) in the match. His 41 digs (1.64 dpg) are third-most on the squad this season.
VALDEZ ADDS PUNCH
•Career-high 14 kills vs. CS Northridge
Sophomore Francisco Valdez (Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic) recorded a career-high 14 kills in the 49ers five-game win over CS Northridge at the UCSB/E-Bar Tournament. Valdez hit .281 in the match and added five digs. He has hit for double-digits in kills twice, scoring 12 kills in the win over USC, while hitting .375. Last weekend he had eight kills at Stanford and five kills, nine digs and four block assists at Pacific. Valdez is currently averaging 2.40 kills per game this year. In the win over Cal Baptist, Valdez finished with eight kills, five digs and a career-high four service aces. He hit .571 (8-0-14) in the match.
CALDWELL IN THE BACK ROW
•Second on team with 52 digs
Junior libero Tyler Caldwell (Hermosa Beach) is off to a great start this season. He recorded 10 digs at Stanford and six at Pacific. Caldwell is averaging 2.08 digs per game as his 52 total digs is second-best on the squad. Caldwell also has added 11n assists. He recorded a career-high 11 digs in the win over CS Northridge at the UCSB/E-Bar Tournament. He recorded nine digs in the MPSF opening win at UC San Diego.
WATTEN SEES ACTION
•Four digs at Stanford
Redshirt freshman Dustin Watten (Long Beach) played in all seven games this past weekend in the back row. Watten had a career-high four digs at Stanford, adding one assist. Watten has seen action in every match this year, playing in a total of 19 games. The four digs at Stanford were his first of the year.
LAST SEASON
•49ers finish 2005 campaign at 22-10
The 49ers made a great run the last half of the season, advancing to the championship match of the 2005 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament, only to fall to eventual national champion Pepperdine. The Beach concluded the season at 22-10 overall and 14-8 in the MPSF, good for a tie for fifth place. Long Beach State won 11 of its last 13 matches heading into the MPSF Tournament. The 49ers won at Hawaii in the opening round of the playoffs, winning 30-23, 30-25, 23-30, 30-22. In the MPSF semi-finals at Pepperdine, the 49ers defeated UCSB in three games, 30-20, 30-24, 30-25. The Beach then fell in the title match to No. 1-ranked Pepperdine 31-29, 30-21, 30-27.
2005 HONORS
•Two 49ers earn first team All-America honors
The 2005 season saw numerous honors for the 49ers as junior Tyler Hildebrand and Robert Tarr were named first team AVCA All-Americans. In the Volleyball Magazine awards, Hildebrand was a first team All-American, while Tarr and Duncan Budinger were second team picks. On the All-MPSF team Hildebrand was first team all-league, Tarr second team, Budinger third team and Yassir Sliti and Paul Munoz earned honorable mention all-league accolades.
2006 Roster
2006 Schedule/Results |
