Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
11-12, 6-11MPSF
BYU
17-5, 13-4MPSF
BYU Tops 49ers in Four
3/29/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
BYU Tops 49ers In Four
PROVO, UT -- The No. 9 Long Beach State men's volleyball team dropped a 30-28, 30-24, 28-30, 30-28 decision to No. 3 Brigham Young University on Thursday night at the Smith Fieldhouse. The 49ers fell to 11-12, 6-11 MPSF while the Cougars improved to 17-5, 13-4 MPSF. Paul Lotman led the 49ers with a match-high 25 kills, 12 digs and eight blocks while hitting .444 on the evening. Daniel Fabry notched 14 kills hitting for a .455 clip and Dean Bittner chipped in 11 kills. Dan Alexander tallied 10 kills and nine blocks while Conor Eaton directed the 49er offense to a .316 hitting percentage with 64 assists. Robby Stowell led BYU with 19 kills while Ivan Perez and Russell Holmes added 16 kills a piece. Holmes had only one hitting error as he hit for an impressive .652 clip. Yamil Perez issued 49 assists with the Cougars hitting .368 on the evening. The Cougars started off strong in game one and held on for the 30-28 victory. BYU jumped out to a 5-0 lead after a Perez kill, forcing a 49er timeout. LBSU was able to regroup and pull within one (16-15) after a kill by Daniel Fabry and then tied it up at 19-19 with a BYU hitting error. The 49ers stayed close the rest of the way as they held off one Cougar game point with a Lotman kill, but BYU was able to end the set after a kill from Ivan Perez. BYU hit .289 for the game while the 49ers hit .256. The 49ers gave up an early lead in game two as they fell to the Cougars 30-24. LBSU held a six point lead (15-9) after an ace by Alexander and led 20-16 before BYU went on a 7-0 run to go up by a score of 23-20. The Cougars were able to finish the set on a 7-4 run capped by a kill from Stowell. BYU out hit the 49ers .455 to .242 in the second game. In a tightly played game three it was the 49ers that came out on top 31-29. BYU went up 18-14 after a Stowell kill, but the 49ers proceeded to go on an 8-3 run capped by a block from Alexander and Bittner to go up 22-21. With six more ties after that point, the 49ers took a 29-27 lead on a BYU hitting error and were able to end the set on a Lotman kill. Despite an early 49er lead and an impressive .469 hitting percentage, it was the Cougars that came back to take game four by a score of 30-28. The 49ers will return to action tomorrow evening when they take on BYU at 6 pm (PDT). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
