Long Beach State’s men’s volleyball team has lost eight games this season, three of them in five sets.  The last two were why the air in the ‘Myd was so anxiety-ridden during their five-set win over No. 4 Penn State.  At home against No. 5 USC on March 4^th, the 49ers won the opening set, and then led 2-1 before losing both the fourth and the fifth—two nights later, hosting No. 3 Pepperdine, the ‘Niners again got off to a furious start, this time going up 2-0 (by a combined 60-45).  Then, they tightened up and lost three straight, falling again in five.  Last night, with Penn State visiting, the ‘Niners came out hot, winning the first two sets 30-26, and 30-24.  Then they tightened up, and lost the next two sets.  Everyone knew how this was going to end…until they rallied in the fifth set, winning it 15-11 to take a huge win over a top five team, and prove that maybe this team will be a postseason threat.

In the deciding fifth set LBSU jumped to an 8-5 lead behind two kills and an ace from Kyle Friend and a pair of kills from Dean Bittner. The first point may have set the tone as Bittner finally got The Beach the point on his fourth kill attempt. Long Beach State wouldn’t let Penn State back in the match. The 49ers finished the match with three kills, one by Friend and two by Jim Baughman, to push the score form 12-9 to 15-11. The 49ers hit .421 in the fifth set to edge Penn State which hit .389.

LBSU (10-8) finished the match hitting .302 compared to Penn State’s (15-3) .233. Bittner led four 49ers who had double-digit kills with 18 on .325 hitting. Josh Riley added 17 kills, while Friend had 11 and Dan Alexander chipped in 10. Mike Klipsch handed out 62 assists and Dustin Watten had 12 digs.

The Beach jumped out to an early lead in game one taking a pair of four-point leads at 16-12 and 17-13, the latter coming on a hitting error by Penn State. The Nittany Lions rallied scoring four straight points to tie it at 17, before tying it at 18 and 19 as well.

The 49ers rallied right back scoring five of the next seven points to build a 24-21 lead on a block by Alexander and Friend. They pushed the lead to as many as four at 27-23 and again with the game winner at 30-26 on a block by Bittner.

Long Beach State hit .379 in the first game while Penn State hit just .061. Bittner led the 49ers in the game with five kills and a .571 hitting percentage. Riley added four kills and hit .571 as well. Baughman and Alexander had three kills each with Alexander hitting 1.000.

Riley keyed Long Beach State to a win in the second set with seven kills and a .583 hitting percentage. The game went back-and-fourth early with neither team leading by more than two points until Riley caught fire. With LBSU leading 17-16, Riley had five kills and an ace to push the Beach’s lead to 28-23. Friend capped the match with a kill to put Long Beach State up 2-0.

LBSU hit .452 in the second set while Penn State struggled hitting just .226. Friend added five kills and a .667 hitting percentage, while Bittner had three kills and Alexander added two.

The Nittany Lions dominated the third set. PSU scored five straight points midway through the match to push a 13-11 lead to 18-11. LBSU could never get closer than five and fell behind by as many as nine. Penn State hit .524 in winning the set, while LBSU hit .273.  The Beach looked to be in control in set four leading by three 16-13 on a Baughman block, but Penn State rallied scoring four straight points and eight of the next nine, including a point that included a kicked ball to take a 21-17 lead. LBSU couldn’t get any closer than two as PSU evened the match at two sets each. Penn State hit only .163 but won the set thanks in part to Long Beach State’s .125 hitting percentage.

The win closes the Active Ankle Tournament, hosted at the Pyramid—Dean Bittner was the tourney MVP, and teammate Dan Alexander made the all-tourney team, along with Mike Morici (IPFW) Yamil Perez (BYU) Andrew Stewart (BYU) Ryan Sweitzer (Penn State) Dennis Del Valle (Penn State).

From LBSU reports