Long Beach State University Athletics
Watten Born to be a 49er
5/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
May 7, 2008
LONG BEACH - Dustin Watten has a vivid memory of the most recent appearance by a Long Beach State men's volleyball team in an NCAA Championship Tournament.
It's a painful one.
"I went with my family to Cirivello's (Sports Bar and Restaurant in Long Beach) to watch the championship match with BYU (from Honolulu) in 2004," the 49ers' junior libero said Monday afternoon in the Walter Pyramid, an hour before the team's practice for the program's next NCAA tourney appearance Thursday night against Pepperdine at UC Irvine.
If asked, the 21-year-old graduate from the Wilson High Class of 2004 can recount every point scored in the Cougars' five-game victory over coach Alan Knipe's team in that 2004 final.
"I was friends with a bunch of the guys (LBSU players) and Tyler Hildebrand (then a sophomore All-America setter for the program) was my club coach," he said, smiling.
"I was already emotionally invested in the program, so it was very tough to watch."
That investment is understandable.
Watten's parents were LBSU graduates and are currently teachers in the Long Beach Unified School district, as is a grandfather.
And Dustin Watten, at the time of the 49ers' 2004 finals loss, was convinced a third-generation member of the Watten clan was destined to be a 49er.
Along with attending Long Beach matches from a very early age, although he considered himself "more soccer player, than volleyball player" until he was 14 years old, he was a regular at the program's summer camps.
"As my parents (Jeff, a technology teacher at Wilson, and Kim, who teaches first grade at Kettering Elementary) say, 'We bleed (49er colors) black and gold in this family,"' Watten said minutes after cruising to the Walter Pyramid via his usual mode of transportation, his trusty skateboard.
Watten, who learned the rudiments of the sport while tagging along with his dad for games on the sand of Huntington Beach, developed his skills on the club and high school scenes enough to evolve into the Moore League's Player of the Year when he helped lead the Bruins to the CIF quarterfinals as a senior.
"I started getting calls from a lot of (college) coaches across the country," Watten said.
UC Irvine coaches called, offering him a weekend recruiting visit.
But Watten's interest was lukewarm, at best, and he was already composing an e-mail letter to the coach who had not yet talked to him about playing at his school.
"I was going to write coach Knipe and tell him that I would do anything - sweep and mop the floors as his manager ... anything - to be a part of the (49ers') program," he said.
"I felt the same way about going to Long Beach that lot of kids (who play football) feel about Notre Dame. There was no other place I wanted to go."
Pretty soon a phone call from Knipe allowed Watten to forego writing the rest of that e-mail message.
"Coach Knipe called my dad (a former volleyball and soccer coach at Wilson)," Watten said, the smile growing wider, "and told him he wanted me at Long Beach."
None of the Watten passion has waned in four years.
"Dustin is a 'program guy' who loves playing at Long Beach," Knipe said of his starting libero, whose 2.35 digs per game average ranks No. 14 nationally.
"He is one of those guys who always sees the glass as being half-full. His attitude is super-positive and contagious."
The 49ers' players didn't spend a lot of time bemoaning the 11-17 record of last season, when they didn't qualify for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament after finishing 10th.
That's because guys like Watten, as well as Adam Schlesinger, one of just three seniors of Long Beach's current roster, wouldn't let them.
"Dustin was one of the guys that organized the (off-season) workouts and kept everyone motivated and working hard," Knipe said. "I think the guys were working out and in the weight room the day after our final match (last season)."
Paul Lotman agreed.
"Dustin sets one of the best examples of anyone on this team as to how much hard work pays off," the 49ers' senior outside hitter and the MPSF's Player of the Year, as well as first-team All-America, said.
"He motivates everyone on this team."
"This has been what I've been working my butt off for since I was a freshman, in the gym and with my dad on the beach," he said.
"To be on the floor (in the Bren Center, Thursday night), in a Long Beach uniform with a NCAA (championship) patch on it ... it's almost surreal."
