Post by bigfan on Jan 20, 2005 15:26:50 GMT -5
Sweeping up
49ers practically cruise against tough Stanford
By Frank Burlison
Staff writer
Considering how tight the match was when the teams met on Jan. 8 in Santa Barbara, Long Beach State men's volleyball squad was cruising, relatively speaking, against its Stanford counterpart after two games Wednesday night in the Pyramid.
So much for appearances.
"We knew they were going to make a charge," 49ers' All-America setter Tyler Hildebrand said, after the team finally put away the Cardinal, 34-32, after five Long Beach serves for match point for the 3-0 sweep in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match played in front of 719.
And charge Stanford (2-4 overall and 1-2 in the MPSF) did in Game 3, moving out to a couple of five-point (14-9 and 15-10) advantages before the 49ers re-grouped to move to match point (at 29-28) after William Clayton hit long for the Cardinal.
But Stanford which was hit with a double yellow card in Game 5 to lose to the 49ers' during a tournament at UCSB on the first weekend of the season cam came through while facing elimination on four Long Beach serves before Teddy Liles put the ball away for a 33-32 edge. The 49ers finally ended things when Chris Ahlfeldt hit wide for the Cardinal.
"They win that game," Hildebrand, ice strapped to both knees after a 51-assist, two-kill and two-dig performance helped improve the No. 5-ranked 49ers to 2-1 in the MPSF and 4-2 overall, "and we might have been playing a lot longer. They play as hard as any team we'll face all season."
Long Beach, in its first home match, had a .517 hitting percentage to win Game 1, 30-27, then, despite falling behind, 4-0, pulled away in Game 2, 30-23, hitting at a .423 rate.
The 49ers didn't help themselves with eight service errors in Game 3 they finished with 18 for the match to Stanford's eight but managed to survive despite seeing their hitting percentage to shrink to .255.
"But we hit .368 for the match, and that's great against a team like Stanford," Long Beach Coach Alan Knipe said.
"It's hard to hit in the 50s and even 40s against the good teams."
Senior opposite Yassir Sliti (a match high 18 kills) and junior outside hitter Robert Tarr (12 kills) "carried us at crucial times in the match," Knipe said.
With three starters having departed from the program's national championship runner-up squad, the 49ers are anything but fine tuned not quite two full weeks into the season.
"We executed all right," Hildebrand said. "But we were a step or two off in our offense. The new guys are getting used to things but to beat Stanford, even when we are not at our best, shows what we can do."
49ers practically cruise against tough Stanford
By Frank Burlison
Staff writer
Considering how tight the match was when the teams met on Jan. 8 in Santa Barbara, Long Beach State men's volleyball squad was cruising, relatively speaking, against its Stanford counterpart after two games Wednesday night in the Pyramid.
So much for appearances.
"We knew they were going to make a charge," 49ers' All-America setter Tyler Hildebrand said, after the team finally put away the Cardinal, 34-32, after five Long Beach serves for match point for the 3-0 sweep in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match played in front of 719.
And charge Stanford (2-4 overall and 1-2 in the MPSF) did in Game 3, moving out to a couple of five-point (14-9 and 15-10) advantages before the 49ers re-grouped to move to match point (at 29-28) after William Clayton hit long for the Cardinal.
But Stanford which was hit with a double yellow card in Game 5 to lose to the 49ers' during a tournament at UCSB on the first weekend of the season cam came through while facing elimination on four Long Beach serves before Teddy Liles put the ball away for a 33-32 edge. The 49ers finally ended things when Chris Ahlfeldt hit wide for the Cardinal.
"They win that game," Hildebrand, ice strapped to both knees after a 51-assist, two-kill and two-dig performance helped improve the No. 5-ranked 49ers to 2-1 in the MPSF and 4-2 overall, "and we might have been playing a lot longer. They play as hard as any team we'll face all season."
Long Beach, in its first home match, had a .517 hitting percentage to win Game 1, 30-27, then, despite falling behind, 4-0, pulled away in Game 2, 30-23, hitting at a .423 rate.
The 49ers didn't help themselves with eight service errors in Game 3 they finished with 18 for the match to Stanford's eight but managed to survive despite seeing their hitting percentage to shrink to .255.
"But we hit .368 for the match, and that's great against a team like Stanford," Long Beach Coach Alan Knipe said.
"It's hard to hit in the 50s and even 40s against the good teams."
Senior opposite Yassir Sliti (a match high 18 kills) and junior outside hitter Robert Tarr (12 kills) "carried us at crucial times in the match," Knipe said.
With three starters having departed from the program's national championship runner-up squad, the 49ers are anything but fine tuned not quite two full weeks into the season.
"We executed all right," Hildebrand said. "But we were a step or two off in our offense. The new guys are getting used to things but to beat Stanford, even when we are not at our best, shows what we can do."
