The words “heartbreaking loss” have been thrown around a lot this season.  But when the LBSU men’s volleyball team face the BYU Cougars for the second night in a row, when the national Player of the Week shatters his personal record in the effort, and when the 49ers still lose in five sets for the second night in a row… “heartbreaking loss” seems pretty applicable.

Saturday night’s match, televised on BYU-TV, started off with a truly terrible loss in the first set for the Beach.  Long Beach had seven service errors (to BYU’s one), no aces, and no blocks, hitting just .125 and dropping the set 18-30.

Long Beach has some of the best talent in the country, with Dean Bittner national POW this week, and Dustin Watten ranked second in the nation in digs.  But the team works best when they’re working together, rather than relying on one player to carry the gameplay.  In the second set Saturday night, Long Beach’s 14 kills were spread out among six 49ers, with Bittner and Tommy Pestolesi leading at only 4 each.  Coupling this team play with a solid hitting percentage, the Beach was able to outweigh its persistent service error problems to win the set 31-29.

The third set was another issue for Long Beach.  BYU dominated the game at the net, with six blocks to the 49ers’ one.  Bittner dominated Long Beach’s offense, with ten of the team’s fifteen kills.  Long Beach lost the set 24-33, dropping to a 1-2 count.

But Long Beach refused to go down that easily.  The fourth set was hard fought, with the two teams trading short advantages (the largest lead was 7-4 Beach) and tying twenty-two times.  Previous to tonight, Bittner’s personal record was 33 kills in a match (coming against Pepperdine on March 9^th).  He surpassed that Saturday night to tie BYU in the fourth set at 29 points.  The Beach, through sheer force of will and a rabid survival instinct, forced a fifth set with a 35-33 win.

The fifth set was just as hard fought, and, if it had been just a little longer or a little shorter, might have gone Long Beach’s way.  The 49ers led from the first point, and though they tied three times, the Cougars didn’t gain the advantage until 13-14.  And, as long as we’re talking about phrases that have become clichés for this team, it was a “live by the sword, die by the sword” moment when what would have been Bittner’s 43rd kill of the night was blocked by BYU’s Russell Lavaja and Alex Da Pron for the match point. 

It was an epic loss.

Dean Bittner ended the night with a .478 hitting percentage, leading the rest of the 49ers (none of whom hit above .225) in total attacks by 49.  As a team, Long Beach had 72 kills and a .285 hitting percentage.  Mike Klipsch had 66 assists, and Dustin Watten led the game with 12 digs.

Long Beach is now 10-10 on the season and 7-8 in the MPSF conference.  They’ll have a few more chances to improve on that record, their first coming Thursday at USC.  They’ll be back in the ‘Myd for four more home games, starting April 3^rd against Stanford.