Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Fall At Pepperdine
2/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Long Beach Drops First Match of Season
MALIBU -- The Long Beach State men's volleyball team saw its unbeaten season come to an end on Wednesday evening as Pepperdine defeated the 49ers 30-26, 30-24, 35-33 at Firestone Fieldhouse. The Waves improved to 6-5 overall and 6-5 in theMPSF, while the 49ers fell to 9-1 overall and 7-1 in league action. The return of All-American Paul Carroll helped spark the Waves to its biggest victory of the season. Carroll (Forster, Australia), a junior opposite who was an All-American first teamer a year ago, played in his first match since Jan. 12 after recovering from a fractured right (non-hitting) hand suffered in an off-court mishap. He missed the previous eight matches (Pepperdine went 3-5 without him). After coming off the bench late in game one and getting off to a slow start, Carroll finished with 13 kills on 27 swings and hit .370. Paul Lotman led Long Beach State with 16 kills, while Dean Bittner added 15 nd Dan Alexander 11. The 49ers hit .411 (55-16-95) in the match, but still fell in three games. Long Beach had 20 service errors. Cory Riecks led the Waves with 17 kills, Carroll added 13 and Eric Liebert seven as Pepperdine hit .483 (53-10-89) for the match, a 49er opponent high for the season. The Waves had 7.0 team blocks and setter Jonathan Winder dished out 46 assists. The Waves built a 17-12 lead in game one after recording 12 kills on their first 14 swings. However, the 49ers responded with a 6-0 run to grab a one-point lead. Tied 23-23, the Waves got an edge after back-to-back kills by junior middle blocker Eric Liebert and Riecks. Game one ended on a service ace by junior middle blocker Mark Hulse. Long Beach State hit a blistering .519 while Pepperdine wasn't far behind at .448. Tied 16-16 in game two, the Waves ran off five straight points. Liebert had a kill and a service ace and the 49ers committed a couple of attacking errors. Long Beach State got within two points a couple of times, but after taking a 27-24 lead, the Waves scored the final three points of the game. Pepperdine continued to hit well at a .444 clip, compared to .296 for the 49ers. A 4-0 run near the start of game three gave Pepperdine an 8-4 lead, and the Waves still led by four points at 20-16. But Long Beach State rallied in the latter half of the game and actually had three game points at 29-28, 30-29 and 32-31. The Waves staved off each one, however, and broke a 33-33 tie with a kill by Liebert, and the match ended on a 49er attack error. Pepperdine hit .545 in game three compared to .415 for Long Beach State. The 49ers will be in action on Friday evening when they play at No. 9-ranked USC. The match will begin at 7 pm in the Galen Center on the USC Campus. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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