Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Host Active Ankle/L.B. GuestHouse Classic This Weekend
3/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
March 11, 2008
LONG BEACH, Calif. - THE RECORDS
•Beach 15-2 On Season
Long Beach State is 15-2 overall and 11-2 in the MPSF after sweeping two home matches last week over Pacific and Stanford. Long Beach State is ranked No. 3 this week in the CSTV/ AVCA Coaches Poll and No. 4 in Molten/Volleyball. UC San Diego, the 49ers opponent on Wednesday, is 6-14 on the season and 3-12 in the MPSF. This weekend the 49ers host the Active Ankle/Long Beach GuestHouse Classic. Long Beach tangles with IPFW on Friday. IPFW is 8-7 on the year. Saturday the 49ers take on fourth-ranked Penn State. The Nittany Lions are 19-1 and were recently ranked No. 1 in the nation until losing at George Mason last week. Cal Baptist (9-7) is the fourth team in the tournament. They take on Penn State on Friday (5 pm) and IPFW on Saturday (5 pm).
THE COACH
•Alan Knipe In Eighth Year as Coach
Alan Knipe (Long Beach State, 1992) is 147-83 (.639) 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 Lead UCSD, 46-4 •49ers Lead IPFW, 16-3 •49ers Lead Penn State, 12-4
Long Beach State leads in its series with UC San Diego by a 46-4 margin. The 49ers downed the Tritons in four games on February 8 in Long Beach. The 49ers lead their series with IPFW, 16-3, having won the past nine meetings. The 49ers won last year in Long Beach in five games. Long Beach leads Penn State by a 12-4 count, including a five-game win in Long Beach last season.
BEACH POUNDS PACIFIC
•49ers Hit .352
The 49ers rolled to a 30-23, 30-20, 30-23 win over Pacific on Wednesday evening. The 49ers hit .352 and limited the Tigers to a .034 (29-26-88) hitting percentage. Paul Lotman led the way with 12 kills and four aces. Dean Bittner had nine kills and Fletcher Anderson eight kills and six blocks.
49ERS SWEEP STANFORD
•Record Season-High 13 Aces
Friday night the 49ers rode some hot serving to a 30-28, 30-23, 30-27 win over seventh-ranked Stanford. The 49ers had a season-high 13 service aces in the match, as Paul Lotman and Tommy Pestolesi each had three. Lotman had 18 kills and hit .419, while Dean Bittner added 12 kills and six digs. Dustin Watten had 11 digs and the 49ers limited the Cardinal to a .240 percentage.
LOTMAN ON CAREER CHART
•Hits 1,000 Career Kills
Senior Paul Lotman (Lakewood) is currently No. 14 on the 49er career kill chart with 1,157 kills. Lotman is the 17th player in 49er history to reach 1,000 career kills. He had a career-high 32 kills in the win at Ohio State on February 22. Lotman also has accumulated 561 career digs and is the 17th player in school history to reach 500 career digs. He needs 28 more digs to move into the No. 10 spot on the 49er career chart. He also stands third on the 49er service ace chart with 111 aces.
NATIONAL STATISTICS
•Five 49ers Are Nationally Ranked
In the most recent NCAA National Statistics, the 49ers are fourth in the country in hitting percentage at .318. Individually, setter Mike Klipsch leads the country in assists at 14.38 per game. Paul Lotman ranks second in kills per game at 5.60, second in points per game at 6.67 and first in aces per game (0.60). Dan Alexander is second nationally in hitting percentage (.519) and tied for first in blocking at 1.68 blocks per game. Dean Bittner is fourth in kills (4.70) and tied for third in points (5.62). Rounding out the 49ers in the national rankings is libero Dustin Watten who is 11th in digs at 2.60 per game.
Paul Lotman
•Primed To Make Mark In History Books
Senior Paul Lotman (Lakewood) currently is averaging a team-best 5.60 kills per game while adding 1.55 digs per contest, all while hitting an impressive .331. In the two wins last week he averaged 5.0 kills and 1.33 blocks per game while hitting .460. He also had seven service aces, four against Pacific and three vs. Stanford. The previous week he had 24 kills and 10 digs in the five-game loss to CS Northridge, and then he had 20 kills in the win over UCSB. The double-double was his second of the season. Lotman had a career-high 32 kills, hitting .373 (32-10-59), in the 49ers win over Ohio State on February 22. Lotman ranks first in the MPSF in kills, points and aces in all matches and in MPSF matches. He has hit double figures in kills in all 17 matches and he's topped 20 kills eight times. He had a double-double in the second Hawai'i match with a season-high 26 kills and 10 digs. Lotman also leads the squad with 36 service aces. He needs just eight more to set the 49er single season mark (43 set by Scott Touzinsky in 2002). Lotman is third on the 49er career service ace chart with 111 aces. He was named the Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week on January 22 and was the MPSF co-Player of the Week on January 14.
•Leads Nation In Assists
True freshman Mike Klipsch (St. Louis, Mo.) has gotten off to a great start as the starting setter for the 49ers. Klipsch is averaging 14.38 assists per game this season, a mark which leads the nation. In league outings his 14.06 assists per game also tops the league charts. He has guided the team to a .318 hitting percentage this season as the 49ers have hit .300 or better in 10 of their 17 matches. The 49ers hit a season-high .413 (50-12-92) on January 10 at Hawai'i, a three-game victory. On January 18 at UCLA he recorded his first double-double as a 49er with 56 assists and 11 digs. On January 11 in Hawai'i he had a career-high 69 assists, adding five digs and four blocks. Klipsch is fifth on the team with 47 blocks and he's third in digs with 91 (1.52 dpg).
•Career-High 29 Kills vs. CS Northridge
Sophomore Dean Bittner (Lakewood) continues to impress this season for the 49ers. Bittner had 12 kills and six digs in the win over Stanford and nine kills in the three-game win over Pacific. Bittner had a career-high 29 kills, while hitting .333, against CS Northridge on February 29. Bittner has hit double digits in kills in 15 of the 17 matches and has eclipsed 20 kills five times. Earlier this year at Hawai'i he had 26 kills and seven digs in the 49ers four-game win. Bittner, who was named to the All-Tournament Team at the UCSB E-Bar Invitational and was the MPSF Molten co-Player of the Week (1/7), is averaging 4.83 kills per game while hitting .278. Bittner ranks third nationally in points per game (5.62) and fourth in kills per game (4.70).
•Leads Nation In Blocking
Sophomore Dan Alexander (Arcadia) leads the squad with his .519 hitting percentage and 101 total blocks. Alexander is averaging 2.90 kills per game and a team-high 1.68 blocks per outing. Last week he had seven kills in both victories over Pacific and Stanford, and totaled nine blocks. He ranks second in the nation in hitting percentage and he's tied for first in blocking. He had a great weekend at Ohio State, averaging 4.43 kills and 1.43 blocks per game while hitting an amazing .789 (31-1-38). In Friday's win over the Buckeyes he had a career-high 18 kills while hitting .818 (18-0-22) in the four-game win. Alexander has recorded two double-double's this season in kills and blocks. On Feb. 8 vs. UC San Diego he had 13 kills and 10 blocks. On Jan. 30 vs. Pepperdine he had 11 kills and 10 blocks. Alexander has just 26 hitting errors all season on 285 swings. He had hit double figures in kills in 10 times this season and in blocking three times.
•Season-High 8 Kills vs. UCSD
Sophomore Tommy Pestolesi (Huntington Beach) recorded a season-best eight kills in the win over UC San Diego on February 8. Pestolesi added three blocks and a team-high nine digs. In the win over Pacific last week he had five kills and four digs, and in Friday's win over Stanford he added three aces and three blocks. In the win over UCSB on March 1 he had six kills and a career-high seven blocks. He has been in the starting lineup the past 12 matches after coming off the bench at the end of game two against UC Irvine (1/16) and leading the 49ers to the win. Pestolesi finished with four kills, three aces, five digs and three blocks against the Anteaters and earned a spot in the starting rotation. On the year he is averaging 1.35 kills and 1.18 digs per game.
•Junior Leads Team In Digs
Junior libero Dustin Watten (Long Beach) is averaging a team-high 2.60 digs per game for the 49ers, having appeared in all 60 games. He has hit double digits in digs seven times this year, including five of the past six matches. This past weekend he had 11 digs vs. Stanford. He currently is 11th in the nation, and seventh in the MPSF, in digs per game. In the win at UCLA (1/18) he had 12 digs. On January 11 in Hawai'i Watten had a career-high 19 digs in the four-game win.
Fletcher Anderson
•2nd On Team With .418 Hitting Percentage
Senior Fletcher Anderson (Los Gatos) is off to a strong start this year. Anderson is averaging 1.30 kills and 0.98 blocks per game while second on the 49ers with his .418 hitting percentage. He has hit .444 or better in nine of the 17 matches this season. This past weekend he had eight kills and six blocks while hitting .583 (8-1-12) in the win over Pacific. At Pepperdine (2/13) he hit a career-high .778 (7-0-9). Anderson's 56 total blocks is third on the squad and he had a career-high seven blocks in the opener against USC. In the win over UC Irvine at the UCSB E-Bar he had a season-high nine kills while hitting .692 (9-0-13).
•Freshman Sees Action For The 49ers
Freshman Kyle Friend (Boca Raton, Fla.) started at outside in the first five match this season for the 49ers and is averaging 1.29 kills and 2.24 digs per game. He played at Pepperdine (2/13), his first appearance in five matches, playing two games and finishing with a kill and four digs. At Hawai'i he had four kills, five digs and three blocks in Thursday's three-game sweep. In Friday's four-game win over the Warriors he had a season-high tying five kills, while adding a career-best 17 digs and three aces. Friend is sixth on the team with 38 digs.
•Career-High 5 Blocks vs. UCSB
Senior Luke Shea (Fullerton) saw action against CS Northridge and UCSB at home. Friday against CS Northridge he had two digs and three blocks. Saturday vs. UCSB he picked up his first kill of the season, while adding a career-high five blocks in the victory. Shea has appeared in 14 games this year and has recorded nine blocks (0.64 bpg).
Gavin Christensen
•Season-High 4 Kills vs. Pacific
Junior Gavin Christensen (Long Beach) played in all three games last week in the win over Pacific, recording a season-high four kills, two digs and two blocks. Christensen then played three games vs. Stanford in the back row, recording one service ace. Heading into last weekend he had appeared in just four games on the season.
