Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
23-6
Pepperdine
15-10
Waves Roll Over Beach In MPSF Semifinals
4/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
April 24, 2008
Long Beach, Calif. - Poor serving from the 49ers combined with .324 hitting from the Waves led to a victory as No 5 Pepperdine (15-10) rolled over the top-seed Long Beach State (23-6) in three games 30-27, 30-22, 43-41 in the MPSF semifinal match. Paul Carroll led the Waves with 21 kills and five digs.
The 49ers were hurt by 32 service errors in the three-game match, as any chances for the Beach to make a move were consistently undermined by service mistakes in crucial situations. "We missed a lot of serves tonight, a lot more than we usually do," said Long Beach State head coach Alan Knipe. "We lead the conference in aces, and really feel that it's one of our strengths. When it got to be a little much, we tried to stay aggressive, but we missed a lot."
Meanwhile, while Pepperdine made 20 service errors of their own, they were more consistent throughout, not only from behind the court but in it, hitting .289 over the course of the match.
"I don't think it was necessarily a perfect played match, but it was certainly hard played," said Pepperdine head coach Marv Dunphy. "One of the keys was our coming back from a rough start in game one. We kept our wits about us, and ended up playing some good volleyball."
Long Beach State took a quick start out of the gate in front of a large friendly crowd, taking an 8-4 lead behind two kills from Paul Lotman. With the advantage, Long Beach State continued to press, moving ahead at 18-12 after two service aces from Josh Riley. Pepperdine began to make their move though, cutting the lead back to 22-17 and 24-22 before Long Beach State converted side outs.
Dean Bittner picked up a kill out of a Long Beach State timeout to preserve the lead, but a Tyler Jaynes block and an attack error from Bitter gave Pepperdine their first lead of the match at 27-26. A Lotman kill tied the game at 27, but another service error, the 11th of the game for LBSU put the Waves ahead one more time, and a Lotman error combined with a J.D. Schleppenbach ace ended game one 30-27.
Capitalizing on the momentum from their game one win, Pepperdine took a 10-7 lead in game two, and moved ahead 15-9 behind strong serving from Paul Carroll. Long Beach State answered with three straight points to force a timeout by Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy. The Waves answered back with four straight points of their own to regain a seven-point advantage at 19-12. With that cushion, the Waves moved on to a 30-22 win in game two, improving their hitting in game two to .320 from .190 in game one.
Both teams started more evenly in the final game, but Pepperdine again took a small lead moving ahead 13-10 following a blocking error from the 49ers. The Beach climbed to within one at 15-14 after a Bittner and Lotman block, but again a service error handed the momentum back to Pepperdine. The 49ers battled through, and continued to tie the game but were unable to take a lead, as Pepperdine held the service advantage. From ties at 18-18 through 23-23, the 49ers finally took a lead at 24-23. Pepperdine took two straight points, finishing with a block by Jonathan Winder. Behind in the service advantage, Long Beach State held on for a 28-28 tie, and went to 30-30 after a Lotman kill.
Another Lotman kill put the Beach up 31-30, but again a service error set up a tie between the teams. Pepperdine regained the advantage with a Cory Riecks kill, and the teams pressed on. Long Beach State continued to make service errors, missing four but coming back and stopping nine match points. Long Beach State finally took the advantage 41-40on a Lotman kill, but Pepperdine came back with three straight points for a 43-41 on a Schleppenbach block.
The semifinals continue on Thursday, as second-seed BYU takes on Cal State Northridge for the right to play in the finals on Saturday. That match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on April 26 at the Walter Pyramid.
