By snoadmin
NORTHRIDGE – Back in late February, the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team had to watch No. 3-ranked CS Northridge celebrate a five-game victory over The Beach on the hardwood of the Gold Mine Gym. It was the 49ers’ first home loss of the season and they entered the Matadome Saturday night with intentions of avenging the setback.
LBSU surely did and got more than it bargained for.
The No. 4-ranked 49ers battled with CSUN for three hard-fought games and won all of them (32-30, 30-27 and 30-26) to clinch the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title and the top seed in the upcoming league tournament.
Ironically, LBSU (23-5, 18-4 MPSF) dealt the Matadors (22-6, 17-5 MPSF) their first home loss of the season in front of a crowd of 1,481. The raving screams of Matador fans didn’t sidetrack the 49ers, especially sophomore opposite Dean Bittner, who notched a game-high 22 kills on a noteworthy .645 attack clip.
Senior outside hitter Paul Lotman added 10 kills, the last one hitting CSUN’s back corner to seal game three and the match for the 49ers, as they jumped in excitement and celebrated with the LBSU fans who made the trip to the San Fernando Valley.
Game one featured 15 tied scores and four lead changes, but LBSU came out on top behind Lotman’s six kills. The 49ers led the entire way in game two and had their biggest margin at 23-16 after Lotman and Alexander combined for a double block. It was Bittner who was dropping kill after kill on CSUN. Bittner finished with nine kills in game two, as the 49ers appeared to have control of the match. The Matadors, however, wouldn’t go down easy.
CSUN jumped all over the 49ers at the beginning of game three and took a 16-12 lead off a double block. The Matadors extended the lead to six with an 18-12 advantage, but LBSU responded with a furious 5-1 run to cut the lead to two and took over from there.
Two kills by Bittner and a service ace by Lotman tied the game for the 49ers at 20, and a block by freshman outside hitter Josh Riley gave them the lead.
The teams traded leads until several hitting errors by the Matadors put the game out of reach. Lotman’s scintillating kill brought the 49er faithful onto their feet and the MPSF title back to Long Beach. Head coach Alan Knipe pumped his fists and the assistant coaches raised their arms in victory.
LBSU, coming off a frustrating 11-17 season a year ago, began the season on a major roll, as the team ran through several opponents to go 9-0. The 49ers then lost their first match at Pepperdine and began to hit the tougher part of their schedule in the middle season. Consecutive losses to No. 7-ranked UC Irvine and No. 6-ranked UCLA put the team’s focus into question, but the 49ers managed to right the ship with a four-match winning streak, all on the road, culminated with a surprisingly short three-game sweep of the Matadors.
After the match, an energetic Knipe spoke of the team’s intensity and dramatic turnaround toward the end of the regular season.
“The things that we weren’t satisfied with – our intensity, our focus – we had to watch videos and be extremely aggressive on this road trip,” Knipe said. “We needed to get back to the things that we trained at. We’ll have a short memory; I have a lot of faith in my guys.”
Knipe spoke of the team’s high work ethic and dedication to practice at the beginning of the season, and reinforced his words after the big victory.
“The 11-17 season and this year speaks for itself,” Knipe said. “One year later [after last season], it took an extremely huge effort for us to get back together. It’s rewarding and it shows the quality of our gym.”
Bittner, who called the Matadome “one of the loudest places [he’s] been in,” said the team had an answer for the raving sea of red.
“We just got a little louder with each other,” Bittner said. “Confidence was pretty much there the whole time. It’s a huge weight off our shoulders.”
The No. 1-seeded 49ers will host the MPSF Tournament for the first time in the program’s history. The tournament begins April 19 with quarterfinals matches. LBSU’s opponent is yet to be determined.
