
It was a close match in the Pyramid Friday night for the LBSU men’s volleyball team, who hosted Stanford—unfortunately, close matches have not been a good thing for the 49ers, whose 28-30, 30-18, 30-26, 26-30, 20-18 MPSF loss presents a gruesome stat. Namely, in eight five-set matches this season, the 49ers are 2-6.
“It’s inconsistency, always,” said head coach Alan Knipe after the match. “We need to be able to close the door—there’s a fine line between playing conservatively and playing in control.”
The 49ers played in control in spurts, but then shifted into conservative mode—nowhere was this more apparent than the fifth set, where they led 11-7 before seeing Stanford go on a 7-2 run. Stanford (17-8, 10-6 MPSF) took its first lead of the fifth set at 14-13 and had five match points before finally winning. Long Beach State hung tough and had a chance to win it with a match point at 17-16 but couldn’t pull off the point.
Dean Bittner was dominant throughout the match hitting .375, finishing with 36 kills. Dan Alexander added 13 kills and a .440 hitting percentage, while Jim Baughman chipped in 11 kills and a .381 hitting percentage. Mike Klipsch handed out 71 assists, three shy of his career high, and Dustin Watten had 19 digs, also three shy of his career best. Watten’s 19 digs gave him 290 for the season, a new single-season record at Long Beach State. Jason Stimpfig (1993) held the old record.
Evan Romero led Stanford with 20 kills, while Brad Lawson chipped in 19. The Cardinal out-hit LBSU .305 to .246.
Long Beach State controlled much of the first set. The Beach led for most of the set but Stanford rallied to take its first lead at 24-23 and then led 26-25. The 49ers rallied scoring four of the next five points including a pair of kills by Bittner to take a 29-27 lead. After a Stanford point, LBSU locked up the set with the winning point coming on a kill by Alexander.
Bittner dominated the first set with 10 kills, a .562 hitting percentage and two aces. The Beach hit .474 as a team to edge the Cardinal, who hit .412. Kyle Friend and Baughman added four kills each and Watten had six of the 49ers’ 12 digs.
The Cardinal bounced back dominating the second set, going on scoring runs of seven points once and four points twice. LBSU managed just 10 kills and hit .000 for the game while Stanford hit .333. Bittner had five kills.
Big Stanford runs continued to plague the 49ers in the third set. LBSU took a 7-5 lead early, but Stanford scored the next nine points to take a 15-7 lead. The Cardinal built the lead to as many as 10 points, but LBSU battled back getting within three at 29-26 before the Cardinal sealed the set with a kill.
LBSU out-hit Stanford .306 to .268 in the game, but four blocking errors and four service errors by The Beach allowed the Cardinal to win the set. Bittner paced the 49ers with eight kills while hitting .500 in the set. Alexander added five kills and a 1.000 hitting percentage.
Long Beach State bounced back in the fourth set. Stanford made a mini 3-0 run to take a 16-13 lead, but LBSU battled back to tie it at 20 and 21. Alexander pushed the 49ers into the lead with two straight aces to give LBSU a 23-21 lead. Stanford could never get closer than a point as The Beach pushed the match to a fifth set.
Bittner led LBSU with seven kills, a .500 hitting percentage and two aces in the fourth set. Alexander had four kills, a .429 hitting percentage and a pair of aces. LBSU hit just .258 in the set, but Stanford managed to hit just .237.
After the match, Knipe was able to find some silver lining in his team’s narrow defeats. “It’s good that we’re playing well enough to put ourselves in those [close] situations, but we have to take advantage. We have to figure it out.”
With LBSU reports