Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Ready For NCAA Championships
4/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
April 30, 2008
IRVINE, Calif. - The Long Beach State men's volleyball team spent Wednesday in Irvine in preparation for the 2008 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championships. Head Coach Alan Knipe and players Paul Lotman, Dan Alexander and Dean Bittner took part in the NCAA Press Conference with the media. The seven starters then spent an hour taping segments with ESPN2 and then the entire team practiced on the Bren Events Center court for an hour and a half. Wednesday evening all four participating teams were honored at the NCAA Championship Banquet. The 49ers (23-6), the No. 3 seed in the tournament, will take on Pepperdine (16-10) on Thursday night in the second NCAA semifinal.
Long Beach State is making its seventh appearance in the NCAA Championships, having previously appeared in 1970, 1973, 1990, 1991, 1999 and 2004. In 2004 the 49ers fell to Brigham Young in five games in Honolulu, Hawai'i. Long Beach State won the national title in 1991.
At Wednesday's press conference, 49er Head Coach Alan Knipe talked about the 49ers success this season and being at the NCAA Championships.
"We're excited to be here, and we want to thank the NCAA Committe for selecting us as an at-large", said Knipe. "Going forward on the season, we have a pretty green group of guys as far as age, but not green as far as the effort they've put in to get where they are today. They have done pretty much everything I have asked of them on the court in order to put themselves in this position to still be playing in May. We're looking forward to the opportunity to play for a national championship."
Setting will be a big key this weekend as Penn State, Ohio State and Pepperdine have setters who are seniors and All-Americans. The 49ers will start true freshman Mike Klipsch, but Knipe doesn't see his age as a detriment.
"Setting is a very important part of a team's success, and the other teams have All-American seniors. We have a lot of confidence in Mike though; he was the MPSF Freshman of the Year and deserved it. Mike is a perfect example that the collection of parts are better than any individual piece. He can set a good ball, run a good offense and stay on an even keel. What he has to fall back on is that when he looks out on the court, he has a lot of guys that he can set. He has a very good knack of setting the right guy and making good decisions. The quality of the guys he has to set allows him to stay in a comfort level."
Getting to the NCAA Championships has been a goal of the team all season long. Senior leadership has been a key according to Alexander. "All of the seniors have been huge to us this year. I came in and I'm still new to volleyball, and those guys really helped me out a lot. Anything that we're having trouble with, we can go to those guys. When we have tough times in games, those are the guys that come in and say 'We can do this."
Lotman, a fifth-year senior, is anxious to end his career with a championship. "I kind of got a piece of it as a freshman in 2004 while I was redshirting," said Lotman. "I saw the competitive side of volleyball at this level. It was motivation to me to reach that level. Is any year we're going to win this thing, it's got to be this year. I'm excited to see how many people and fans will come out this weekend."
Bittner was also excited about the prospect of playing for a national championship. "I saw the Final Four a couple of years ago (2003) at Long Beach State when I was in high school, and I never thought that I would be somewhere playing with teams of this caliber. I'm just really excited to be here."
Both semifinal matches, and Saturday's championship match, will be televised live on ESPN2 and ESPNU. Thursday's first match pits Penn State against Ohio State at 6 pm. The 49ers and Waves match is scheduled to begin at 8 pm. Saturday's final will air at 4 pm.
