LBSU travels to Hawaii for crucial MPSF matches
3/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
March 16, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
LONG BEACH STATE RETURNS TO MPSF PLAY AT HAWAII: After a week of non-conference action with wins over Illinois-Chicago and St. Francis and a loss to Penn State, The Beach returns to MPSF action this weekend with matches at Hawaii on Friday and Saturday. It's a crucial week for the 49ers, who sit in fourth place in the MPSF standings. Hawaii (and USC and BYU) trail LBSU by just percentage points in the standings. The 49ers are 7-5 (.583 winning percentage), while Hawaii, USC and BYU are all 8-6 (.571 winning percentage). UCLA sits a half game behind Hawaii, USC and BYU at 8-7 (.533 winning percentage).
USC and BYU also meet on Friday and Saturday so a pair of wins would help the 49ers strengthen their hold on the number-four spot in the standings. LBSU, UH, USC and BYU are the only teams that play conference games this week.
BITTNER MOVES INTO THIRD IN ALL-TIME KILLS AND MATCHES WITH 20+ KILLS LISTS AT LBSU, ALSO RANKS FOURTH IN SERVICE ACES: Dean Bittner moved into third all-time in career kills and matches with at least 20 kills in Long Beach State's match against Penn State last Saturday. The 49er opposite passed 49er great Matt Kerins (1987-90) on the kills list and tied Tom Hoff (1995-96) on the 20-kills list. He also became just the fourth 49er to ever total 1,700 kills during his career.
Bittner needs 113 kills the rest of the season to pass Brett Winslow (1988-91) in career kills at Long Beach State. Brent Hilliard (1990-93) is the all-time leader with 3,034 kills, over 1,200 more kills than Winslow. Bittner needs two more matches with at least 20 kills to tie David McKienzie (1998-01) for second on the 20+ kills list. Hilliard is also the all-time leader on that list with 89 matches with 20-or-more kills.
Bittner also ranks fourth all-time in service aces at Long Beach State. He needs 21 more to pass Hilliard for third and 24 to pass Paul Lotman (2005-08) for second all-time. Scott Touzinsky (2001-04) is the all-time leader with 158 service aces.
BITTNER'S 38 KILLS AGAINST UC SANTA BARBARA MARKED SIXTH TIME IN CAREER, AND SECOND THIS SEASON, HE HAS HAD 30 OR MORE KILLS IN A MATCH: Despite Long Beach State's loss to UC San Barbara on February 12, Dean Bittner had one of the best matches of his career. The senior finished with a season-high 38 kills and a .320 hitting percentage in leading the 49ers in a heart-breaking five-game loss. The 38 kills were the second-most in his four-year career, trailing only the 42 kills he had as a junior at BYU last year.
Earlier this season, Bittner had a 30-kill effort in the season opener against California Baptist. Bittner needs two more matches with 30 kills to tie Martin Wagner (94, 96) for the fifth most 30-kill matches in a career at Long Beach State.
BITTNER EARNS NATIONAL AND MPSF PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS: Dean Bittner was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Men's Division I-II National Player of the Week on Jan. 25, as well as the MPSF Molten Co-Player of the Week, after leading the 49ers to a split of their matches. Bittner recorded back-to-back 20-kill outings, while only playing in six games. He started things off by notching 20 kills on .356 hitting with six digs, three blocks and an ace in the 49ers loss to top-ranked USC. He followed by hitting a blistering .833 - a career-high - while registering 20 kills, three digs, one block and one ace in LBSU's sweep of then-No. 7 Pepperdine. For the week, Bittner averaged 6.66 kills, 1.50 digs and hit an efficient .522.
BITTNER'S FOURTH CAREER NATIONAL P.O.W. HONOR IS TIED FOR THE MOST IN LBSU HISTORY: Dean Bittner's national player of the week honor was the fourth of his career, with two coming in 2008, one in 2009 and one this season. His four national honors are tied for the most in school history with David McKienzie who won two in 1999 and two in 2001. Tyler Hildebrand has three national weekly honors, while Tom Hoff, Duncan Budinger and Paul Lotman have two each.
PESTOLESI NAMED NATIONAL AND MPSF PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Tommy Pestolesi has been named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I-II Men's National Player of the Week after igniting his team to a pair of key Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) triumphs Feb. 24 and Feb. 26. He also earned co-MPSF Player of the Week honors for his efforts. In the 49ers' first match, a hard-fought 3-2 win over then-No. 11 UC Irvine, Pestolesi narrowly missed a double-double, smashing 24 kills (.488) while chipping in nine digs, one block and one ace. In LBSU's next match, a 3-0 blanking of then-No. 3 UCLA, the senior came away with 15 kills, five digs and one block on .431 hitting. For the week, Pestolesi hit an efficient .431, while averaging 4.88 kills and 1.75 digs per game.
ALEXANDER MOVING UP CAREER CHARTS IN A PAIR OF BLOCKING CATEGORIES: Dan Alexander is moving up the career charts in both blocks and matches with at least 10 blocks. Alexander moved into sixth all-time in blocks passing Neil Mendel (1993-96) against Loyola-Chicago. He now has 434 career blocks and needs 13 more to pass David Lee (2001-04) for fifth. Alexander is just the eighth player in school history to record 400 blocks. He also has seven career matches with at least 10 blocks, which ranks fifth all-time. He needs one more to tie Matt Prosser (1998-01) for fourth on the list.
KLIPSCH GETS CAREER ASSIST NUMBER 3,000; SITS FIFTH IN CAREER ASSISTS AT LBSU: Junior Mike Klipsch is in the top five in career assists at Long Beach State. The junior from St. Louis, Mo., has 3,050 career assists and needs 77 assists to pass Steve Walker (1995-96) for fourth on the all-time list. Klipsch also became also became just the fifth LBSU player to ever record 3,000 assists. He is currently second on the depth chart behind Conor Eaton at setter and has only played sparingly since starting the season opener against California Baptist.
LBSU PICKED SEVENTH IN PRESEASON MPSF POLL: Despite returning every starter except libero Dustin Watten, Long Beach State was picked to finish seventh in the preseason MPSF Coaches Poll. The Beach collected 58 points in a vote of the 12 league coaches. Defending MPSF Tournament champion USC edged defending national champion UC Irvine as the preseason pick to win the conference. The Trojans finished with 112 points and five first-place votes, while the Anteaters tallied 110 points and five first-place votes.
