Head coach Alan Knipe’s Long Beach State men’s volleyball team is at the mercy of the selection committee for the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 1-seeded 49ers were swept by No. 5-seeded Pepperdine 3-0 in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament at the Walter Pyramid Thursday night.
The Waves (15-10) defeated LBSU (23-6) 30-27, 30-22 and 43-41, and game three looked anything like the final touches on an easy sweep, as The Beach didn’t get eliminated quietly.
“The effort the guys showed in game three, they never gave up” Knipe said. “I’m proud of that.”
In the second-longest game in MPSF history, the Waves outlasted the 49ers 43-41 after sophomore opposite Dean Bittner’s attempt was blocked to the ground by the tandem of freshman Tyler Jaynes and junior J.D. Schleppenbach.
The Pepperdine bench erupted after the back-and-forth marathon to advance to Saturday’s conference championship match against No. 2-seeded Brigham Young, which swept No. 3-seeded CS Northridge.
“J.D. had a great block,” Waves senior setter Jonathan Winder said. “He made one heck of a blocking move.”
Game three featured 26 ties, as the 49ers committed 14 serving errors in the set. Trailing 15-13, LBSU seemed to gain some momentum after MPSF Player of the Year Paul Lotman and sophomore middle blocker Dan Alexander teamed up to block Waves senior outside hitter Paul Carroll and electrify the crowd. However, the 49ers followed with one of 32 serving errors on the night.
“We missed a lot of serves tonight, a lot more than we normally do,” Knipe said. “It’s just one of those tough things to explain. We lead the conference in service aces, and this team really believes that’s one of the strengths that got us to where we are today. We were trying to work it out by being a little more aggressive and staying confident with it.”
The errors weren’t the only story of the match, as Pepperdine dominated at the net with 15 1/2 team blocks on the night, including 9 1/2 in game three, and seemingly met a 49er attacker with at least two players on every other play.
“It wasn’t necessarily a perfect-played match,” said Pepperdine head coach Marv Dunphy. “But it turned out to be hard-played. I’ve seen this Long Beach team a few times this year … and the first couple of games they didn’t play as well as they’re capable of playing.”
Carroll and Bittner battled to keep their respective teams alive, as the Waves’ star finished with 21 kills – 10 in game three – and five digs. Bittner led the 49ers with a team-high 17 kills, including 11 in the deciding game.
“I thought Dean Bittner played really well,” Dunphy said. “There was a stretch where we couldn’t stop him.”
In game two, with Pepperdine leading 10-7, the officials ordered the LBSU crowd back to the student section as a safety precaution after a large portion walked over to a section of Waves fans to try to drown out the opposing crowd.
Despite committing just seven errors from the serve, the 49ers couldn’t muster much against the Waves, recording just nine kills in the set.
Serving errors in particular helped the Waves come back to win game one, as LBSU committed 11 from the serve.
“I think [the errors in game one] definitely carried over into game two,” Lotman said.
The 49ers jumped out to a 22-14 lead, but, after trailing for much of the first game, Pepperdine was able to withstand the pro-LBSU crowd noise to take its first lead, 27-26, after a 49er hitting error from Bittner. Carroll led the way with five kills and a .571 hitting percentage to pace the Waves.
“I thought we came out great. We were fired up,” Lotman said. “But they came back and we kind of let up.”
There is still a chance LBSU could receive the at-large bid when the NCAA Tournament opens in Irvine on May 1. The 49ers are the only team in the MPSF Tournament with wins over the other three participants, and Knipe noted the team’s wins against some of the top teams in the nation – some of which will be in the four-team tournament in Irvine – and said he was confident that LBSU will be able to make a run at a national championship.
“We have the best case [for the at-large bid],” Knipe said. “We have the best overall record, which is one of the criteria. Our record against common opponents – which would be BYU, Northridge – we’re 2-0 against BYU and 1-1 against Northridge. Of course, we have to wait until it’s official on Sunday, but when you look at the body of work and go down the criteria list, I think we’re in a good situation. We’ll get in the gym and get ready to play whoever we will play in the tournament.”
