49ers Host UCSD On Friday
February 7, 2006
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LONG BEACH STATE MEN'S VOLLEYBALL | Overall: 10-2/ MPSF: 5-1/ National Rank: #4 | UC San Diego at Long Beach State
Friday, February 10, 7:30 pm, Walter Pyramid
Internet Radio: www.longbeachstate.com | Long Beach State at Hawaii
Thursday, February 16, 9 pm, Honolulu, HI | Long Beach State at Hawaii
Friday, February 17, 9 pm, Honolulu, HI |
THE RECORDS
•Beach falls to No. 4 in country
Long Beach State is 10-2 overall and 5-1 in the MPSF and will host UC San Diego on Friday evening in the Walter Pyramid. The Beach fell to No. 4 nationally in the latest CSTV/AVCA Top 15 Poll. Last week the 49ers defeated UCSB at home in three games and then split two matches at the Penn State Invitational. Long Beach defeated IPFW in five games and lost to Penn State in four games. UCSD is 1-8 overall and 0-6 in the MPSF. The Tritons defeated Princeton (3-1) and lost at home to UCSB (3-0). The 49ers are currently in second place in the MPSF standings while UCSD is in 12th place.
THE COACH
•Alan Knipe enters his sixth year at head coach
Alan Knipe (Long Beach State, 1992) is 108-57 (.655) 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 lead series with UCSD, 42-3
Long Beach State leads in its series with UC San Diego by a 42-3 count and have won the last seven meetings between the two. Last year the 49ers won 30-23, 30-23, 30-23 in Long Beach and 27-30, 28-30, 30-26, 30-20, 15-9 in La Jolla.
49ERS SPLIT AT PENN STATE
•Beach falls in four games to Nittany Lions
After beginning the week with a three-game win at home over UCSB on Wednesday (30-26, 30-25, 30-24), the 49ers split two games at the Penn State Invitational. On Friday the 49ers rallied from two games down to defeat IPFW 23-30, 27-30, 30-26, 30-17, 15-8. Robert Tarr led the way with 28 kills and Norm Hutton had a career-high 17 kills while hitting .583. Long Beach hit .373 for the match and out-dug the Mastadons 38-to-24. On Saturday night the 49ers lost to Penn State 22-30, 30-21, 20-30, 27-30. The 49ers hit just .237 in the match while Penn State hit a blistering .398. Tarr recorded 25 kills and hit .409 and Duncan Budinger added 10 kills. Penn State out-blocked the 49ers 18.5 to 10.0 as Long Beach had a total of 32 hitting errors and 12 service errors in the match.
ROAD WARRIORS
•49ers are 7-1 away from home
The 49ers are currently 7-1 away from the Walter Pyramid this season. The 49ers won their first seven matches of the season away from home, but lost on Saturday at Penn State. 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 .320 this year
The 49ers have been impressive on offense this year as they are hitting .320 and averaging 16.09 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. Three starters are hitting .332 or better as well. Long Beach has hit .400 or better four times this season.
WALTER PYRAMID ADVANTAGE
•49ers 3-1 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 31-5 (.861) at home. Overall since 1995 the 49ers are 130-33 (.798) at home.
THREE AND OUT IS GOOD
•Beach has recorded five 3-0 sweeps
The 49ers have recorded five 3-0 sweeps this season. In those five outings the 49ers have hit an impressive .405 (262-69-476) and limited their opponents to a .175 (214-125-510) hitting percentage. Long Beach has not been swept this season.
PUTTING UP A WALL
•Beach averaging 3.80 blocks per game
The 49ers have been very impressive at the net this year as they are averaging 3.49 blocks per game. The 49ers are out-blocking their opponents 3.49 to 2.74 per game and have out-blocked seven of their 12 opponents this season. In the win over UCLA (1/7) they recorded a season-high 19.5 team blocks (3 BS, 33 BA). Three players are averaging at least 1.00 blocks per game (Liles 1.52, Budinger 1.49, and Tarr 1.02). Last year the 49ers averaged 2.50 blocks per game.
HILDEBRAND ON CAREER CHART
•Third all-time with 5,590 assists
Senior Tyler Hildebrand (Mesa, AZ) stands third all-time at Long Beach State with 5,590 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 13.58 assists per game, including a season-high 74 assists in the five-game win over CS Northridge. Besides dishing out assists, Hildebrand is hitting .281 and averaging 1.24 digs and 0.91 blocks per outing. Hildebrand is moving up the all-time blocking chart at LBSU as he has 277 career blocks, good for No. 17 all-time.
BUDINGER RANKS NO. 1 IN HITTING
•Career .476 hitting percentage
Senior middle blocker Duncan Budinger (Encinitas) hit .400 (27-5-55) in the three matches last week. He had 10 kills and hit .556 (10-0-18) in the victory over IPFW. In the home win over UCSB he hit .429 (7-1-14). Budinger has a .485 hitting percentage this season and is averaging 2.56 kills and 1.49 blocks per outing. He has nine outings this year where he has hit .400 or better and six outings hitting .500 or higher. He is also second on the team with eight matches with double figures in kills, including a season-high 13 kills at Stanford and at UC San Diego. Budinger continues to rank No. 1 at LBSU in hitting percentage as he now stands at .476. He also moved up to No. 10 in career blocking with 344 blocks and he is heading towards 1,000 career kills, as he stands at 875.
TARR MOVING UP THE CAREER CHART
•Averaging 5.69 kills per game
Senior Robert Tarr (Rockledge, FL) had another big week for the 49ers as he averaged 6.00 kills per game in the three matches last week. He tallied 28 kills in the win over IPFW and had 19 against UCSB. In the loss to Penn State he recorded 25 kills and hit .409 (25-7-44). He has hit double-digits in kills 11 times this season and he has 20 or more kills in seven of the 12 matches. Tarr leads the 49ers in kills, averaging 6.00 kills per game. He also checks in at 1.60 digs and 1.02 blocks per game while hitting .332. Tarr also is second on the team with nine service aces. Tarr surpassed the 1,000 career kill mark in the second match of the season and currently stands at No. 9 all-time with 1,215 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 AT THE NET
•Second on team with 64 blocks
Junior Teddy Liles (Tucson, AZ) continues to be a force at the net thus far for the 49ers as he is second on the team in blocking with 64 blocks (1.52 bpg). Liles had seven kills and seven block assists in the win over UCSB. Liles is averaging 2.21 kills per game and is hitting an impressive .396. He 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. He currently ranks No. 5 all-time in career hitting percentage at .431.
HUTTON STEPS UP
•Career-high 17 kills vs. IPFW
Sophomore Norm Hutton (Fountain Valley) had a big match in the win over IPFW. He came off the bench to record a career-high 17 kills and hit .583 (17-3-24). He also added three digs and two block assists. His previous career-best in kills was last season as a redshirt freshman when he had 13 kills at UC San Diego. Hutton played three games on Saturday, finishing with four kills and one block assist. Hutton, who has played in nine games this season, is averaging 2.44 kills per game and hitting .308.
LOTMAN RECORDS FIRST DOUBLE-DOUBLE
•Career-high 16 kills vs. USC
Sophomore Paul Lotman (Lakewood) is averaging 2.40 kills and 1.71 digs per game this season for the 49ers. Last week in the three matches he had 26 kills, including 11 against UCSB. Lotman recorded a career-high 16 kills in the win over the Trojans while hitting .440 (16-5-25). He also had four block assists and a career-high 12 digs, giving him his first double-double as a 49er. The 12 digs tied for the most digs any player has had this season (Caldwell vs. Pepperdine, Tarr vs. CSUN). Lotman had hit double digits in kills four times this year, with two coming against USC (13 in opener). His 77 digs (1.71 dpg) are second-most on the squad this season. VALDEZ HAS BIG MATCH VS. USC
•Career-high 16 kills vs. USC
Sophomore Francisco Valdez (Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic) recorded a career-high 16 kills in the 49ers four-game win over USC on Friday. He added eight digs and five blocks while hitting .344 (16-5-32). Valdez, who has three double-figure kill matches this season (14 vs. CSUN, 12 vs. USC), is averaging 2.11 kills and 1.18 digs per game while hitting .175. He leads the team with 12 service aces.
SHEA SHINES
•5 kills in win over USC
Redshirt freshman Luke Shea (Fullerton) played in his first match as a 49er in the win over USC. Shea played in all four games and finished the match with five kills, two aces, two digs and two block assists. He hit .385 (5-0-13) for the evening. Shea prepped at Servite High School.
CALDWELL IN THE BACK ROW
•First on team with 83 digs
Junior libero Tyler Caldwell (Hermosa Beach) is off to a great start this season. Caldwell had a career-high 12 digs in the four-game loss to Pepperdine and then came back with 10 digs in the win over USC. He also added two assists vs. the Trojans. Caldwell has hit double figures in digs four times this year. Overall, Caldwell is averaging 2.08 digs per game and he's dished out 17 assists in 40 games as well.
WATTEN SEES ACTION
•Four digs at Stanford
Redshirt freshman Dustin Watten (Long Beach) is seeing increased playing time for the 49ers. This past week he played in all three matches and in 11 of the 12 games. He had a career-high five digs against Penn State and added two assists. He also had five digs against IPFW. Watten had four digs at Stanford, adding one assist. Watten is currently averaging 0.46 digs per game.
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
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