By The No. 4-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team, on paper, appears to be in for a smoother week than last weekend’s five-game wars in the Gold Mine Gym.
But on head coach Alan Knipe’s watch, there will never be any smoother weeks ahead.
“This conference (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) is too tough,” Knipe said. “Anybody would be na’ve to think that records indicate how good a team is. Every team [in the MPSF] is good.”
Pacific (1-16), one of the fellow MPSF teams and LBSU’s opponent tonight at the Walter Pyramid, won its only match at Stanford on Jan. 31. The Tigers have lost eight straight matches since. However, 14 of the 16 losses were to nationally ranked teams.
In the MPSF, arguably the nation’s toughest conference, every opponent is a potential threat, and the 49ers know that very well. LBSU is coming off a tightly-contested match with No. 13-ranked UC Santa Barbara, who came in with a 7-9 record but certainly didn’t play like it. The Gauchos pushed the 49ers to five games after trailing 2-0 before the 49ers rallied to survive game five in a match that could have gone either way.
“We played an emotional match tonight,” Knipe said. “UCSB lost in three games to San Diego [the night before] and had some fire in them.”
Pacific could certainly have that same fire, especially with 2007 second-team All-American Pekka Seppanen, who has a team-high 229 kills this season. Seppanen has led the team in kills in 11 of the Tigers’ 16 games this season, and is second on the team with 115 digs. The 6-2 senior outside hitter recorded a career-high 33 kills in a four-game loss to the same UCSB team on Feb. 29.
Amidst a struggling season, Pacific’s outside hitter position is quite talented. Junior outside hitter Jeff Pendershot is second in kills with 147 kills, followed by sophomore outside hitter Jason Borchin’s 144.
Pacific’s last meeting with LBSU was a five-game victory over the 49ers at The Walter Pyramid. Despite last season’s tough 11-17 record, LBSU is obviously a different team at 13-2 this season, but will look to avoid a second consecutive loss at home to the Tigers tonight at 7 p.m.
