49ers Close Regular Season At Home
April 11, 2006
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LONG BEACH STATE MEN'S VOLLEYBALL | Overall: 19-9/ MPSF: 12-8/ National Rank: #5 | Friday, April 14
Pacific at Long Beach State
7:30 pm, Walter Pyramid
Internet: www.longbeachstate.com | Saturday, April 15
Stanford at Long Beach State
7 pm, Walter Pyramid
Internet: www.longbeachstate.com |
THE RECORDS
•Beach improves to 19-9 overall
Long Beach State swept Brigham Young at home last week to improve to 19-9 overall and 12-8 in the MPSF. The 49ers are still in sixth place in the league standings, but could move up to third place if things fall the right way. Long Beach also moved up to No. 5 in the nation in this week's CSTV/AVCA Coaches Poll. This weekend the 49ers host Pacific on Friday night and Stanford on Saturday. Pacific is 7-19 overall and 5-15 in the MPSF while Stanford is 4-22 overall and 2-18 in the MPSF.
THE COACH
•Alan Knipe in his sixth year at head coach
Alan Knipe (Long Beach State, 1992) is 117-64 (.646) in his sixth year 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 Pacific, 20-7
•49ers lead series with Stanford, 34-20
Long Beach State leads its series with Pacific by a 20-7 count. The 49ers won in Stockton on January 21 30-23, 30-23, 39-37. Long Beach leads its series with Stanford by a 34-20 count including a 30-22, 30-21, 27-30, 30-22 win in Palo Alto on January 20.
49ERS DEFEAT BYU TWICE
•Beach rallies to win opener in five games
The 49ers came away with two big home wins last week defeating BYU in both matches. On Thursday night the 49ers rallied from two games down to beat the Cougars 29-31, 26-30, 30-26, 30-22, 15-13. Robert Tarr led the way with 21 kills, Duncan Budinger added 14 kills and seven blocks and Norm Hutton came off the bench to finish with 10 kills and four blocks. LBSU hit .309 in the match while BYU hit .247. The 49ers hit .722 (13-0-18) in game number five. Friday night the 49ers won 29-31, 30-28, 30-27, 30-24. Tarr tallied 21 kills again, and added 10 digs to the cause. Hutton had a career-high 20 kills, Budinger had 11 and Teddy Liles had 10 kills and six blocks. BYU hit .243 in the match.
BIG CROWDS
•Season-high 1,476 in attendance on Thursday
Thursday night the 49ers and Cougars drew a season-high crowd of 1,476 at the Walter Pyramid. Friday night 1,459 came through the turnstiles. The 1,476 is the largest crowd this season and the 1,459 is the third-largest. On January 26 there were 1,461 in attendance when LBSU hosted Pepperdine. The 1,476 crowd vs. BYU was the 11th largest in school history and the 1,459 represented the 13th largest. This season the 49ers are averaging 1,146 for their home contests, a mark which could break the previous school record for average attendance (1,008 in 2000). Long Beach has had eight crowds of 1,000 or better this season.
SENIOR NIGHT ON SATURDAY
•Three seniors to be honored
Saturday's match vs. Stanford will be Senior Night for Tyler Hildebrand, Robert Tarr and Duncan Budinger. Ceremonies will take place prior to first serve. All three players will entrench their names in the 49er record books. Over the past four years that trio has led LBSU to an 86-39 (.688) record.
WALTER PYRAMID ADVANTAGE
•49ers 9-3 at home this year
The Walter Pyramid has been kind to the 49ers as they are 9-3 at home this season. 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 37-7 (.841) at home. Overall since 1995 the 49ers are 136-35 (.795) at home.
LOOKING FOR 20 WINS
•One more victory gives LBSU 20 wins
With one more win this weekend the 49ers will hit the 20-win mark for the third consecutive season. It will also be the 14th time in school history that a 49er men's volleyball team has reached 20 or more victories. The school record for win is 31 (31-4), set in the 1991 NCAA Championship season. Last year the 49ers were 22-10 and in 2004 they were 28-7.
49ERS IN NATIONAL STATS
• Hildebrand No. 4 in assists per game
The 49ers have several players ranked in the latest national statistics. Senior Robert Tarr ranks No. 6 in kills per game at 4.96 and No. 5 in points per game at 5.69. Tyler Hildebrand ranks No. 4 nationally at 13.58 assists per game and Teddy Liles is No. 11 in blocks per game (1.36). As a team the 49ers are ninth in the nation in hitting percentage at .318.
THREE AND OUT IS GOOD
•Beach has recorded nine 3-0 sweeps
The 49ers have recorded nine 3-0 sweeps this season, most recently accomplishing the feat against Ohio State on March 18. In those nine outings the 49ers have hit an impressive .408 (474-123-860) and limited their opponents to a .219 (387-192-890) hitting percentage.
HILDEBRAND BREAKS ASSIST RECORD
•First all-time with 6,432 assists
Senior Tyler Hildebrand (Mesa, AZ) became the career assist leader at Long Beach State on April 6 with his second assist of the game number one against BYU. Hildebrand currently stands first all-time with 6,432 career assists. He passes Jason Stimpfig's 6,324 assists (1990-93). This year Hildebrand is averaging 13.58 assists per game, a mark which ranked No. 4 in the nation. He had a season-high 74 assists in the five-game win over CS Northridge. Besides dishing out assists, Hildebrand is hitting .408 and averaging 1.26 digs and 0.79 blocks per outing. He was named to the Active Ankle All-Tournament Team after averaging 15.14 assists per game in the two victories.
TARR NAMED MPSF MOLTEN PLAYER OF THE WEEK
•Fifth in nation at 4.96 kills per game
Senior Robert Tarr (Rockledge, FL) was selected on Monday as the MPSF Molten Player of the Week. In the two matches last week against BYU he had 21 kills in both outings and averaged 1.44 digs and 4.67 kills per game. Tarr currently ranks No. 6 in the nation in kill average at 4.96 per game. He also is No. 5 in points per game at 5.69 and No. 19 in aces per game (0.311). Tarr currently has 1,485 career kills to rank No. 6 all-time at Long Beach State. He has hit double-digits in kills 27 times this season and he has 20 or more kills in 13 of the 28 matches. He is also averaging 1.70 digs and 0.79 blocks per game while hitting .318. Tarr also is first on the team with 33 service aces and leads the squad with five double-double's. In the MPSF only stats, Tarr is second in kills per game at 4.79 in league matches, seconds in points per game at 5.51 and tenth in service aces at 0.303. 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 was also named to the all-tournament team at the Active Ankle Classic.
BUDINGER HITS 1,000 CAREER KILLS
•Stands at No. 12 all-time in kills
Senior Duncan Budinger (Encinitas, CA) had a strong weekend in the two wins over BYU. He averaged 2.78 kills per game and hit .360 (25-7-50). Thursday he had 14 kills and seven blocks while hitting .345. Friday he had 11 kills and hit .381 (11-3-21). Budinger has recorded a career-high 28 kills in three matches this season (CSUN, Ohio State, at CSUN). Budinger was the MVP of the Active Ankle Classic, averaging 6.0 kills per game in the two wins and hitting .478 (42-10-67). He tied his career-high against Ohio State with 28 kills and hit .590 (28-5-39). With 1,168 career kills he stands at No. 12 all-time at LBSU. Overall this year Budinger has been exceptional, averaging 3.81 kills and 1.02 blocks per game while hitting .388. He has 16 outings this year where he has hit .400 or better and seven outings hitting .500 or higher. Budinger is second on the team with 22 matches with double figures in kills. Budinger is ranked No. 2 at LBSU in hitting percentage as he now stands at .442. He also moved up to No. 7 in career blocking with 386 blocks.
LILES AT THE NET
•First on team with 141 blocks
Junior Teddy Liles (Tucson, AZ) has been having a solid season for the 49ers. He is first on the team in blocking with 141 blocks (1.36 bpg). Liles is averaging 2.00 kills per game and is hitting an impressive .384. Last week he had nine kills and nine blocks in the five-game win over BYU and then came back with 10 kills and six blocks on Friday night. In the two wins he averaged 2.11 kills and 1.67 blocks per game while hitting .424 (19-5-33). He ranks sixth in the MPSF in blocking at 1.41 blocks per game in conference outings. Nationally he ranks No. 11 in blocking. Eight times he has hit double digits in kills including a season-high 13 kills in a win at UCSB and at home against UC Irvine. 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.
HUTTON COMES UP BIG VS. BYU
•Career-high 20 kills on Friday
Sophomore Norm Hutton (Fountain Valley) had a big weekend for the 49ers. Thursday night he had 10 kills, four digs and four blocks while hitting .300 off the bench. Friday he earned the start and garnered a career-high 20 kills while adding eight digs, two aces and two block assists. In the two matches Hutton averaged 4.29 kills and 1.71 digs per game. His eight digs and four blocks against the Cougars were also career bests. Hutton's previous career-high in kills was 13, earlier this season against IPFW at the Penn State Tournament. Hutton is currently averaging 1.67 kills per game.
CAPED CRUSADER
•Career-high 14 kills vs. UC Irvine
Junior Kevin Cape (Long Beach) stepped into the starting rotation for the 49ers with the move of Duncan Budinger to opposite. Cape had a career-high 14 kills and hit .591 (14-1-22) against UC Irvine on February 24 and then came back with eight kills while hitting .727 (8-0-11) vs. UCLA (2/25). In the 49ers five-game loss at CS Northridge on March 3 he tallied 13 kills and a career-high tying six blocks. Cape has started 13 of the last 14 matches for the 49ers and currently stands at 1.92 kills per game while hitting .393.
LOTMAN SECOND ON SQUAD IN DIGS
•Career-high 16 kills vs. USC
Sophomore Paul Lotman (Lakewood) is averaging 2.09 kills and 1.67 digs per game this season for the 49ers. On April 1 at UC Irvine he tallied 13 kills, four digs and four block assists. The double-digit kill effort was the seventh of the season for Lotman. In Friday's win over BYU he had nine digs and four kills. He recorded a career-high 16 kills in the win over USC on January 27 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. His 177 digs (1.67 dpg) are third on the squad this season and he has led the 49ers in digs eight times this season. Lotman has also contributed 22 service aces, a mark which is third on the team.
VALDEZ SHINES VS. RUTGERS
•Career-high 16 kills vs. USC
Sophomore Francisco Valdez (Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic) played just two games against Rutgers-Newark on March 17 but he finished with 13 kills and hit .722 (13-0-18). He also added four digs. The double-figure kill match was his fifth of the season. Valdez recorded a career-high 16 kills in the 49ers four-game win over USC on January 27. He added eight digs and five blocks while hitting .344 (16-5-32). Valdez had 11 kills and two block assists in the win over UC San Diego (2/10). Valdez is averaging 1.39 kills and 0.74 digs per game while hitting .198. He is fifth on the team in service aces with 15.
CALDWELL IN THE BACK ROW
•First on team with 206 digs
Junior libero Tyler Caldwell (Hermosa Beach) has played great in the back row for the 49ers this season. He had 11 digs in the four-game win over BYU on Friday night, his ninth double figure dig match this year. Caldwell had accumulated a career-best 12 digs four times this season. Caldwell ranks fifth in the MPSF in digs per game at 2.20 in MPSF matches. Overall, Caldwell is averaging 2.04 digs per game and he's dished out 39 assists in 101 games.
SCHLESINGER SEES FIRST ACTION
•Five assists vs. Rutgers-Newark
Sophomore setter Adam Schlesinger (Newport Beach) saw his first action of the season against Rutgers-Newark on March 17. He played in two games and tallied a career-best five assists as the 49ers won in four games. Schlesinger played in just three matches and five games last season recording a total of three assists and one dig.
2006 Roster
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