From Reports By Long Beach State Sports Information Department
No. 7 Long Beach State started slow and couldn’t rally as The Beach dropped a 30-24, 32-30, 33-31 MPSF decision at No. 4 Cal State Northridge Friday night.
LBSU (4-5, 3-3) hit just .200 for the match. The 49ers were led by Dean Bitter with 14 kills and a .286 hitting percentage and Josh Riley with 11 kills. Mike Klipsch finished with 24 assists and Dustin Watten had 11 digs.
The Beach got out on the wrong foot losing set one after hitting just .032. Bittner led the 49ers with four of the team’s nine kills and a .250 hitting percentage. The Matadors won despite hitting just .194.
Cal State Northridge jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in game two thanks to back-to-back aces by Mike Gaudino and built it to 9-3 on an ace by Eric Vance.
The Matadors built the lead to seven, 13-6, before the 49ers rallied. LBSU cut the lead to one, 23-22, but Cal State Northridge (7-2, 4-2) answered with a side out and an ace by Tanner Nua to push the lead back to three, 25-22.
Bittner answered with a kill to cut the lead to two and then Mike Klipsch added a kill to get the lead back to one, 25-24. After a long rally with a number of big plays, Northridge pushed the lead back to two, 26-24, on a Bittner hitting error.
LBSU got back within one on a kill by freshman Jim Baughman, but the Matadors answered with a kill of their own to push the lead back to 27-25.
The Beach got back within one on a service error by Northridge and then finally tied it on a kill by Bittner.
A service error gave the Matadors the lead, but Josh Riley tied it again at 28 with a kill. Cal State Northridge answered with a kill of its own, but Riley tied it again on a kill that saw the return hit a light and land on Northridge’s side of the net.
Northridge got its second set point on a kill, but Tommy Pestolesi answered with a kill to tie it at 30. Cal State Northridge took the lead on a controversial call which LBSU protested and was issued a yellow card which resulted in a point for the Matadors and a 32-30 win in set two.
LBSU hit .250 in the game compared to the Matadors’ .244. Cal State Northridge won the set thanks in part to its four aces.
In set three, LBSU took its first lead of the night on a service error by Northridge to start the set. The set went back and forth with neither team leading by more than a point until the 49ers took a 24-22 lead on a block.
Cal State Northridge scored the next three points, the third on a triple block of Bittner, to regain the lead 25-24. The Beach tied it at 25 on a service error by the Matadors, but Northridge regained the lead on a kill before Dan Alexander tied it at 26 on a kill.
A block by Luke Shea and Bittner gave LBSU the 27-26 lead before CSN answered to tie it at 27. Tommy Pestolesi gave the 49ers another lead with a kill off the Northridge block but Northridge answered again to tie the set at 28.
An ace off the net by Nua set up match point for the Matadors. Pestolesi answered with a kill to tie the score at 29.
Cal State Northridge got another match point after another kill, but Riley tied it with another Beach kill off a block.
Northridge set up a third match point with a kill but allowed The Beach to tie it at 31 with a service error. The Matadors got a fourth match point on another kill and then won it 3-0 on a hitting error by Dan Alexander.