By snoadmin
The second-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team decisively defeated a talented sixth-ranked Stanford team in the quarterfinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.
Head coach Alan Knipe and the 49ers threw an array of different looks at the Cardinal all night, as the rotation saw plenty of fresh faces in the 25-21, 25-17 and 30-28 victory Saturday at the Walter Pyramid.
“We were using everything we had to try to win the match,” Knipe said.
Whether it was Jeff Ornee’s size, Ryan Windisch’s serves or Dan Glamack’s blocking presence, the ‘Niners had plenty of ways to attack and quickly found themselves up two sets to none on the Cardinal after winning set one 25-21 and set two 25-17.
“You go the whole year trying to find guys who have strengths, and if you get to the playoffs, you want to try to use every strength you possibly have,” Knipe said.
The final set of the night brought forth the playoff feel everyone had been anticipating.
LBSU (23-7, 19-6 MPSF) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after freshman Taylor Gregory rejected a hard swing from a Cardinal hitter for one of his team-high five blocks.
Stanford (15-13, 12-13 MPSF) answered back with some momentum-swinging points of its own, primarily from outside hitters Brian Cook and Steven Irvin, who led the Cardinal attack and combined for 31 kills on the night.
Midway through the set, Stanford was able to go on a 9-5 run that tied the match at 17.
LBSU junior Ian Satterfield then got into rhythm and helped to fend off a surging Cardinal squad. He hit seven of his 12 kills in the third set alone and had a crucial ace that put LBSU up 21-17.
However, Stanford showed resilience and battled its way back, eventually earning a chance at set point after a Cook kill made it 24-23.
Then came an answer from the 49ers, who probed the hot-handed Satterfield for a hit that resulted in a 24-24 score and forced the set into extra points.
After going back and forth with the set and match point, LBSU received a final nudge after a hit by junior Dalton Ammerman resulted in a too-many-touches call on Stanford.
With the score 29-28 in favor of LBSU, the ‘Niners were able to capitalize on the next point with a strong block by Gregory and Connor Olbright that led to a final hit by Stanford sailing out.
The ‘Niners fists were held high as match point was announced, and they rejoiced as a team on their MPSF semifinal berth.
Knipe said he was content with what he saw out of his team’s play throughout the night.
“How we game planned for the match played out really well,” he said. “I thought our guys executed, and it showed in the score.”
Satterfield led the ‘Niners in kills on the night but said he felt it was the all-around team effort that earned the victory.
“It’s not always about one person; we play as a team and get our energy from our execution,” Satterfield said.
On the same night, second-ranked UC Irvine dispatched UC Santa Barbara in four games at Bren Events Center.
UCI and LBSU will now travel to Provo, Utah to face off against each other in what has the makings of a classic showdown between MPSF rivals.
“For us, we’ve had some close matches with Irvine, so we know it’s going to be a tough match,” Knipe said.
The 49ers are 0-3 against UCI this season, but in postseason play with a national title waiting in the wings, all bets are off.
For Knipe it’s a matter of minimizing mistakes on his own team’s side of the net.
“We’re playing pretty well right now, but the most important thing that we can do is keep our overall errors down,” Knipe said.
Junior Taylor Crabb expressed excitement about reaching the semifinals of the MPSF but said he knows there’s unfinished business to attend to.
“We got to this point my freshman year, but I really want to get past this next part and advance to the finals of the MPSF tournament,” he said.
Crabb and the 49ers will have their chance on Thursday night when they take on UCI at Brigham Young’s Smith Fieldhouse.
