IRVINE – For the first two games, the No. 3-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team was hitting harder, blocking better and being more efficient against a seemingly overmatched No. 9-ranked UC Irvine squad Thursday night at the Bren Events Center.
But all it took was a few early kills by the Anteaters in game three to make what looked to be a 49er sweep into the team’s biggest letdown so far this season.
LBSU, which hit .406 and .533 in the first two games, respectively, lost its intensity in games three, four and five and dropped a 30-22, 30-22, 26-30, 27-30 and 12-15 match to the Anteaters.
The 49ers (19-4, 14-3 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), coming off a tremendous two-game sweep of No. 4-ranked Brigham Young at the Walter Pyramid, entered the Bren Events Center the winners of seven of their last nine matches, while UCI (12-12, 8-9 MPSF) the losers of six of its last nine matches.
It showed in the first two games, as LBSU was relentless in its attack on the Anteaters’ blocking.
A kill by sophomore opposite Dean Bittner gave the 49ers a commanding 24-15 lead in game one, and they rolled to victory in the first set after a service error by UCI’s Ryan Ammerman.
UCI came out tougher in the second game and trailed LBSU by two for the game’s first 16 points. However, consecutive kills by freshman setter Mike Klipsch and senior outside hitter Paul Lotman pushed the 49ers’ lead to four. The Anteaters would get no closer than one, as a double block by Klipsch and senior middle blocker Fletcher Anderson gave LBSU a 25-20 lead.
Another double block, this time by Bittner and Alexander, increased the 49ers’ lead to seven and a scintillating one-armed block by Bittner put game two away.
Bittner’s block would be the last big play the 49ers would have from there, as momentum began to leave The Beach’s side.
After LBSU took 5-4 lead of a kill by Lotman down the middle, UCI struck back hard with a 7-4 run to lead 11-9. A kill by UCI’s Taylor Wilson over three LBSU defenders gave the Anteaters a 15-13 lead before a suddenly energetic UCI crowd. The Anteaters did not trail the rest of the way and took game three 30-26.
UCI took an early lead in game four at 7-6 and began to frustrate the 49ers with consistent blocking and attacking that wasn’t seen in the first two games. Adding to LBSU’s woes were countless service errors and a number of net violations that didn’t sit well with head coach Alan Knipe, who argued with the referees over the consistency of the calls made throughout the final two games.
UCI took an 18-14 lead as its junior opposite Jon Stellar began to turn his game up a notch with several kills that broke through the 49ers’ double and triple blocking. Stellar finished with 26 kills and five digs to lead the team. LBSU stayed close and cut the deficit to two at 26-24, but a triple block by the Anteaters pushed the lead to 27-24. The 49ers then found themselves pushed by UCI into a final game after an Anteater triple block sealed game four.
LBSU, however, would come out in game five with some efficiency that it displayed in the first and second game as a Bittner kill from the corner gave the team a 4-2 lead.
But UCI would come right back with a 5-2 run capped by a kill by freshman outside hitter Cory Yoder to lead 7-6. The bottom would fall out for the 49ers, as UCI would not relinquish the lead because of LBSU’s apparent inability to prevent balls from hitting the back end. UCI sealed the match 15-12 as Knipe continued to talk with referee Alvin Dong over the calls made against his team.
A disappointed Knipe spoke simply of the team letting up against an Anteater team that lost its previous two home matches.
“Every part of our game was sense of a letup,” Knipe said. “We didn’t have the same sense of urgency. We feel pretty good about closing out matches, but we didn’t close out tonight.”
Despite the apparent disapproval of the referees’ calls, Knipe refused to believe that the calls changed the match for the 49ers, and said the Anteaters seized the momentum.
“It was mainly because our lack of execution,” Knipe said. “[UCI] took a couple real good swings and they came up with big digs. We had a lot of opportunities to score in game three that didn’t happen.”
Lotman and Bittner were spectacular in the match, as they combined to tally 53 of the team’s 81 kills. Lotman led the way with a game-high 27 and added 11 digs, while Bittner followed with 26 but hit .167 for the match. LBSU had a .217 attack clip in game three, a game-low .119 clip in game four, and rose to .333 in game five.
However, the 49ers allowed UCI to hit .571 in the final game. Part of the reason for their disastrous drop in attacking was due to Bittner and Lotman being contested at the net, which the Anteaters failed to do in games one and two.
Knipe said he felt the team became too dependent on Lotman and Bittner to make big kills.
“I thought we became predictable,” Knipe said.
LBSU had 17 more kills than the Anteaters, which had 64 for the match. The 49ers handed UCI several points of service errors, net violations and shots that went wide.
The 49ers will have a few days to think hard about the letdown, as a Saturday night match against No. 11-ranked UCLA at the Walter Pyramid awaits them. The match begins at 7 p.m.
“We’ll respond the way we always respond,” Knipe said. “We got to come back and play a complete match against the Bruins.”
