By No. 4 Long Beach State men’s volleyball looks to extend its four-game winning streak as the team faces No. 9 Pepperdine Saturday night at the Walter Pyramid. The Beach enter the game with momentum after defeating USC in its home-opener.
Long Beach (4-0) is facing off against Pepperdine (3-1) for the first time since the Beach’s 3-1 victory over the Waves in last year’s NCAA tournament semifinals.
Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Spencer Olivier led the Beach in last week’s game against USC with 14 kills, four aces and seven digs. Olivier gives Long Beach the requisite offense and defense needed to outperform any opposing hitters.
Pepperdine’s best performer last week was sophomore outside hitter Ben Weinberg, who led the team with 11 kills and nine digs in a loss against George Mason.
Entering the game, Long Beach and Pepperdine are evenly matched in most statistical categories such as kills, assists and digs.
The match may come down to the number of service errors each team makes on a set-by-set basis.
The Waves have been able to overwhelm opponents and force them into mistakes, with their opponent’s averaging two errors per set. On the other hand, Long Beach has not had the same effect on other teams, forcing an average of only 1.2 errors per set.
The Beach look to defend home court against Pepperdine Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.
