Long Beach State University
3-4, 2-2MPSF
Pepperdine
1-4, 1-3MPSF
Bittner's monster night leads LBSU past Pepperdine
1/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Jan. 23, 2010
MALIBU, Calif. - Dean Bittner hit a career-high .833 to lead Long Beach State to a 30-24, 31-29, 30-24 win over Pepperdine in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Saturday. The win snapped a six-match losing streak by the 49ers against Pepperdine.
Bittner finished with a match-high 20 kills on 24 attempts with no errors. It marked the second straight match with 20 kills for Bittner and the 33rd time in his four-year career that he has had at least 20 kills.
Junior Antwain Aguillard added nine kills, four digs and two blocks for The Beach (3-4, 2-2 MPSF), while Dan Alexander had six kills and five blocks. Conor Eaton handed out 43 assists. Pepperdine (1-4, 1-3 MPSF) was led by Cory Riecks with 16 kills and Maurice Torres with 12 kills.
Long Beach State jumped out to an early lead thanks to strong blocking at the net. The Beach had six blocks in the first game, over four more than its season average of 2.74 per game. Five of the blocks came early as the 49ers built a 13-6 lead. The final one came on set point when Alexander and Jim Baughman blocked Maurice Torres.
Aguillard led LBSU with four kills and three blocks in the first game, while Bittner had four kills on a .571 hitting percentage (4-0-7). Alexander added two kills and two blocks in the game, while Kyle Friend had three kills and two blocks.
Pepperdine finished with 10 attack errors and four serving errors and a .000 hitting percentage. Long Beach State hit .323 for the game.
Pepperdine didn't waste any time in the second game jumping out to a 9-4 lead forcing Long Beach State to burn a timeout. The 49ers rallied scoring six of the next eight points to pull within 11-10 forcing the Waves to call a timeout.
The two teams battled back and forth until the 49ers eventually took the lead 22-21, their first lead of the game. Pepperdine would take the lead back at 23-22 and build a 29-27 lead, but the 49ers rallied overcoming all three set points and winning 31-29 on an Alexander ace.
Bittner dominated the second game hitting 1.000 (9-0-9) including a huge kill to pull The Beach within one at 29-28. Behind Bittner's play, the 49ers hit .333 for the game compared to the Waves' .200.
LBSU took early control in the third game building a 12-7 lead. Pepperdine could never get closer than three as Long Beach snapped a two-match losing streak.
Bittner led the 49ers in the final game with an .875 (7-0-8) hitting percentage. The Beach dominated with a .567 hitting percentage in the game, while Pepperdine answered with a .360 percentage.
