After another five set loss Friday night against Stanford, 49ers coach Alan Knipe said his team needed to find a way to be more consistent, and to take advantage of the opportunities afforded them.  Headed into the fifth set, his team seemed to get the message, winning the final frame by a hefty margin en route to a win over Pacific with a 29-31, 30-13, 25-30, 30-21, 15-8 conference victory.  The win snaps a five-match losing streak, and improve to a 3-6 record in five-set matches.

Josh Riley snapped out of his slump finishing with a team-high 22 kills and seven blocks to lead The Beach (11-13, 8-11 MPSF) to the win. Riley hit .295, while Dean Bittner added 20 kills and a .295 hitting percentage for the 49ers.

Dustin Watten tied a school record for career matches with double-digit digs. He finished with 13 digs against the Tigers (3-24, 0-18 MPSF) for his 40th career match with more than 10 digs, tying Mark Kerins (1987-90) for the school record. Mike Klipsch added 50 assists and a career-high 12 digs.

The 49ers hit .286 for the match despite hitting just .073 in the first set, .200 in the third set and .222 in the fifth set. Pacific struggled most of the night hitting just .169 with a match-best .281 in the first set. LBSU had 16.5 blocks a night after finishing with just 3.5 against Stanford. Pacific stayed in the match with 20.5 blocks.

Long Beach State wraps up its regular season home schedule next weekend when the 49ers host UC Santa Barbara on Friday and No. 3 Cal State Northridge on Saturday. Both matches start at 7:00pm at the Walter Pyramid.

From LBSU reports