The visiting No. 4-ranked CS Northridge men’s volleyball team upset No. 2-ranked Long Beach State, 3-2, in front of a raucous crowd at the Gold Mine Gymn on Friday night.
Winners of seven consecutive matches, the Matadors won the back-and-forth match 30-28, 25-30, 30-24, 26-30 and 15-13.
“[LBSU is] a great team,” said CSUN junior outside hitter Eric Vance, who led the team with 22 kills to go with nine digs. “We’ve always battled every year, back and forth and anyone can win. The intensity explains it all, only winning by two explains it all.”
The 49ers jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the decisive fifth game – the team’s first five-game match of the season – but CSUN stormed back to take a 9-7 lead and force an LBSU timeout.
LBSU (12-2 overall, 8-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) responded and reeled off the next three points – capped off by senior Paul Lotman and sophomore Dan Alexander teaming up for a block – and a 10-9 lead.
“Game five was just the same as the entire match,” said head coach Alan Knipe. “It was a game of runs. We start off with a run, they come back with a run and there’s a slugfest. We just ran out of time.”
CSUN (13-4 overall, 9-3 MPSF) answered right back to take a 11-10 advantage with the help of a service error and a block by Kevin McKniff and Mike Gaudino to force another 49er timeout.
Tied at 13, the Matadors’ middle blocker Cody Loe spiked one of his 18 kills that was followed by a hitting error from sophomore opposite hitter Dean Bittner to end the match and send the CSUN bench into a frenzy.
“[LBSU is] No. 2,” Vance said. “They’re there for a reason. They’re really hard to play here and have a great fan base. Playing such a high-caliber team, it’s always great to win.”
Knipe added, “[With the score] 13 all, they get an unbelievable touch and then they turn it. It wasn’t a block, it wasn’t a dig, they get a piece of it at the net that slows it down. More times than not that’s probably a kill, but they got a piece of it and then they turn it for a point and up 14-13. That was the difference in the game, a point or two.”
The 49ers were led Bittner’s career-high 29 kills and Lotman’s 24-kill, 10-dig double-double. Alexander added a match-high 11 blocks while junior libero Dustin Watten matched Lotman’s team-high 10 digs. LBSU’s three-game win streak was snapped and the team posted a .288 team attack percentage.
Along with Vance, the Matadors’ attack was led by Loe and outside hitter Isaac Kneubuhl, who posted 20 kills and six digs. CSUN ended the match with a .365 team hitting percentage against a 49er team that has allowed an MPSF-low .208 average clip this season.
LBSU stifled the Matadors into a .194 hitting percentage en route to a game four win.
Vance tallied eight kills, including four of the final eight points to lead CSUN in game three.
In game two, Bittner hammered down eight kills and the 49ers used a 10-4 run to help tie the match.
Kneubuhl tallied CSUN’s final three points to seal game one for the Matadors, which hit .536 in the first set.
The 49ers return to action against visiting No. 12-ranked UC Santa Barbara in the Gold Mine Gym at 7 p.m. tonight.
