49ers Head To Hawai'i
Beach Takes Third At UCSB E-Bar
January 8, 2008
PDF Version of Release | OVERALL RECORD • 2-0 | | MPSF RECORD • 0-0 | | NATIONAL RANKING • No. 6 AVCA • No. 6 Molten | THIS WEEK:
MATCH NO. 4
Thursday, January 10, 9 pm (Pacific)
Long Beach State at Hawai'i
Stan Sheriff Center (10,300), Honolulu, Hawai'i
MATCH NO. 5
Friday, January 11, 9 pm (Pacific)
Long Beach State at Hawai'i
Stan Sheriff Center (10,300), Honolulu, Hawai'i
|
THE RECORDS
•Beach 2-0 On Season
Long Beach State began the season on a strong note taking third place at the UCSB E-Bar Invitational last weekend. The 49ers are 2-0 on the season and ranked No. 6 in the country in both the CSTV/AVCA Poll and the Molten/Volleyball Poll. This week they open up Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) action on the road at Hawai'i on Thursday and Friday. Hawai'i is 1-2 on the season, defeating Ball State (3-1) and losing to Penn State (3-1) and UCLA (3-2). The home opener for the 49ers will be on Wednesday, January 16 when they host defending National Champion UC Irvine at 7 pm in the Walter Pyramid.
THE COACH
•Alan Knipe In Eighth Year as Coach
Alan Knipe (Long Beach State, 1992) is 134-82 (.620) in his eighth year as the head coach of the 49er men's. Knipe, the 2004 AVCA National Coach of the Year, is in his 16th year in association with 49er men's volleyball (3 years as a player, 5 years as an assistant, 8th year as the head coach).
THE SERIES
•49ers Trail Hawai'i, 33-29
Long Beach State trails in its series with Hawai'i by a 33-29 count. The 49ers have lost the last four meetings with the Warriors. Last year in Long Beach, Hawai'i prevailed in five games on the first night and then won in four games the next evening. The last Long Beach win was on April 22, 2005 as the 49ers won 30-23, 30-25, 23-30, 30-22 in Honolulu in the quarterfinals of the 2005 MPSF Tournament.
E-BAR RESULTS
•49ers Take Third Place
The 49ers defeated USC (30-25, 30-27, 30-27) and UC Irvine (30-27, 30-22, 30-24) to take third place at the UCSB E-Bar Invitational. Against USC, Paul Lotman knocked down 17 kills and Dean Bittner 14 as Long Beach hit .352 in the match and recorded 12.5 team locks. Setter Mike Klipsch had 38 assists, four digs and four blocks. Fletcher Anderson had a strong showing with five kills, two aces and a career-high seven blocks. In the win over UCI, Bittner had 17 kills and Dan Alexander 13 as the 49ers hit .355. Klipsch had 46 assists and Alexander added three blocks to his .800 (13-1-15) hitting percentage. For his efforts, Bittner was named to the All-Tournament Team.
BITTNER NAMED CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK
•First MPSF Honor
Sophomore Dean Bittner (Lakewood) was named the MPSF Molten co-Player of the Week, along with Stanford's Matt Ceran. Bittner averaged 5.0 kills per game and hit .362 overall as the 49ers took third place. Bittner had 14 kills against USC, 19 against Alberta and 17 vs. UC Irvine. The stats from the Alberta match will not count on the 49ers overall record or statistics.
MPSF PRE-SEASON POLL
•49ers Ranked 7th
In the 2008 MPSF Pre-Season Men's Volleyball Poll, Long Beach State was picked to finish in 7th place. Pepperdine, the 2007 MPSF regular season champion, was picked to repeat in 2008. BYU was selected second, UCLA third, UC Irvine fourth, CS Northridge fifth and USC sixth.
LOTMAN AND KNIPE REPRESENT USA
•Led USA To Bronze Medal
This past summer senior Paul Lotman and Head Coach Alan Knipe were part of the USA Men's Team at the World University Games in Bangkok, Thailand. Knipe served as Team USA's head coach, while Lotman was a starting outside hitter. Also joining the squad was graduated 49er senior Robert Tarr. The trio of 49ers helped lead Team USA to a 7-1 record and the bronze medal. The only loss came in the tournament semifinals to the eventual gold medalists, Turkey. Team USA defeated Italy in the bronze medal match, 25-15, 25-22, 25-16.
LOTMAN ON CAREER CHART
•Tied For 21st All-Time In Kills
Senior Paul Lotman (Lakewood) is currently tied for No. 21 on the 49er career kill chart with 848 kills. He is tied with Neil Mendel (1993-96). Lotman needs just 152 kills to become the 17th player in 49er history to reach 1,000 career kills. Lotman also has accumulated 478 career digs and needs just 22 more digs to become the 17th player in school history to reach 500 career digs.
KLIPSCH SHINES AT SETTER
•Freshman Earns Starting Spot
True freshman Mike Klipsch (St. Louis, MO) has begun the season as the starting setter for the 49ers. Klipsch averaged 14.00 assists per game in the 49ers victories over USC and UC Irvine last weekend. He guided the team to a .353 hitting percentage while dishing out a weekend high 46 assists vs. UC Irvine. He also had three aces, eight digs (1.33 dpg) and five blocks (0.83 bpg) in the victories. Klipsch led St. John Vianney High School to the 2006 Missouri State Championship.
BITTNER COMES UP BIG
•Named To All-Tournament Team
Sophomore Dean Bittner (Lakewood) had a big first weekend, averaging 5.17 kills per game and hitting .393 in the two wins at the UCSB E-Bar Invitational and being named to the All-Tournament Team. He also had 19 kills against Alberta (a four-game loss), but those stats were not included. Bittner appeared in 99 games last year, first as a middle blocker, but he then was moved to opposite. He is the 49ers starting opposite in 2008. Bittner averaged 2.65 kills and 0.99 blocks per game last season for the 49ers. The big right-hander had 14 kills in the win over USC and then followed that up with 17 kills and a .419 (17-4-31) hitting percentage against UC Irvine.
ALEXANDER HEALTHY AND READY
•Sophomore Shines In Opener
Sophomore Dan Alexander (Arcadia) has battled through back problems the past two years, but is now healthy and ready to go. Alexander missed all of his freshman year (2005-06) due to injury and all of fall 2006. He did appear in 71 games this past year and averaged 2.01 kills and 1.23 blocks per game while hitting .375. At the UCSB E-Bar Invitational he averaged 3.17 kills and 1.17 blocks per game while hitting .586. Alexander had a season-high 13 kills, while hitting .800 (13-1-15), in the three-game sweep of UC Irvine. In the opener vs. USC he had six kills and four blocks.
FRIEND SEES ACTION
•Freshman Starts On Outside
Freshman Kyle Friend (Boca Raton, Fla.) has started each match this season for the 49ers and is averaging 1.40 kills and 1.80 digs per game. He had five kills, five digs and four blocks in the win over USC. Against UCI he had two kills and four digs. Friend led his prep team to the 2007 Florida State Championship and was named the State Player of the Year twice.
LOTMAN READY FOR SENIOR SEASON
•Primed To Make Mark In History Books
Senior Paul Lotman (Lakewood) heads into his senior season as the "go-to" player this season for the 49ers. An honorable mention All-MPSF selection a year ago, Lotman improved his stock by competing on the USA Team at the World University Games this past summer, leading the U.S. squad to the bronze medal. He has already begun the season with a bang, being named the Tournament MVP at the Innisbrook Resort Volleyball Invitational in Clearwater, Fla. Lotman led the 49ers in kills, averaging 4.1 kills per game as the 49ers went a perfect 4-0 and captured the tourney title. Last weekend he averaged 4.50 kills and 1.67 digs per game in helping lead the 49ers to third place at the UCSB E-Bar Invitational. Last season Lotman played in all 110 games, averaging 4.51 kills per game while hitting .308. He also led the team with 176 digs (1.60 dpg) and recorded 96 total blocks (0.87 bpg).
WATTEN EXCELS IN BACK ROW
•Junior Leads Team In Digs
Junior libero Dustin Watten (Long Beach) is averaging 2.17 digs per game for the 49ers, having appeared in all six games. Watten tallied seven digs against USC and followed that up with six digs against UC Irvine. Last year Watten appeared in 99 games, averaging 1.69 digs per game. He was second on the squad with 167 digs, hitting double-figures in digs seven times.
2008 Schedule/Results
2008 Roster |
