Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
4-4 (2-3)
UC Santa Barbara
6-2 (4-1)
49ers Fall to UCSB in Three
1/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
49ers Drop Second Straight
LONG BEACH, CA -- The Long Beach State 49ers (4-4, 2-3 MPSF) couldn't overcome the offensive firepower of the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (6-2, 4-1 MPSF) on Friday evening as they dropped their second straight match 29-31, 16-30, 25-30. The 49ers hit .304, but couldn't match the Gauchos as they hit for a .430 clip. UCSB recorded 10 aces on the evening, and out-blocked the 49ers 9.0 to 3.0. Paul Lotman led the 49ers with 12 kills, his eighth straight double-figure kill match. Norm Hutton had seven kills, hitting for a .600 clip. Fletcher Anderson chipped in six kills, while Dean Bittner had five as he hit .364 on the evening. Evan Patak led the Gauchos with a game-high 17 kills and six aces, while hitting .448. David Kennedy chipped in 11 kills, hitting .667, while Bart Kowalski dished out 42 assists. The two teams battled back and forth in game one but the Gauchos came out victorious 31-29. The 49ers took a 15-14 lead following a kill by Lotman, forcing a UCSB timeout. The Gauchos came out of the timeout with a 5-2 run to take a 19-17 lead. The 49ers, who trailed for most of the latter half of the set, fought off two game points to tie it up at 29-29 with a big block from Anderson and Bittner, but the Gauchos were able to hold on as a Patak and Theo Brunner block ended the game. The Gauchos were a little better on offense as they hit .344 compared to LBSU's .325 clip. UCSB carried all the momentum into game two as they ran away with a 30-16 victory. The 49ers never really posed a threat as the Gauchos had seven service aces in game two alone, with five of them coming from Patak. UCSB jumped out to a 13-3 lead after an ace from Bryan Berman. The 49ers pulled within seven (7-14) after a kill by Adam Schlesinger, but the deficit was too much to overcome as a kill from Berman ended the set. The Gauchos hit .542 for the game, while the 49ers hit .273. It was all Santa Barbara the rest of the way as they ended the match with a 30-25 game three victory. The 49ers return to action on Friday, February 2 as they host Stanford in a 7 pm MPSF match-up at the Walter Pyramid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
