USC sweeps Long Beach

[vbreject]

LONG BEACH, CA -- No. 13-ranked USC (10-11, 7-9 MPSF) snapped No. 8-ranked Long Beach State’s (11-10, 6-9 MPSF) four-match win streak with a 3-0 (32-30, 30-28, 30-24) win on Thursday evening at the Walter Pyrmaid. With the win, the Trojans earned a season sweep over the 49ers and extended their win streak to four matches.

Paul Lotman led Long Beach State with 12 kills, three blocks and two aces. Dan Alexander chipped in 10 kills and hit .500, while Norm Hutton recorded nine kills and five digs. Conor Eaton had 41 assists as the 49ers hit just .189 on the evening.

Juan Figueroa had a match-high 18 kills and C.J. Schellenberg tallied 11 kills for USC. Jimmy Killian directed the Trojans to a .393 hitting percentage with 42 assists. USC out-blocked LBSU by a 17.0 to 5.0 count.

USC jumped out to an early 10-5 lead in game one after a Figueroa kill, but the 49ers crept back as they tied it up at 17-17 on a solo block by Lotman and again at 21-21 with a kill by Fletcher Anderson. LBSU took their first lead of the game since the first serve as a USC hitting error put the 49ers up by a 25-24 count. LBSU held three game points but could not put the game away as the Trojans went on a 3-0 run capped by a 49er hitting error to pull out the 32-30 victory. USC out-hit LBSU .294 to .176 in the first set.

In a close fought game two, the Trojans came out on top with a 30-28 win. USC went up by as many as four points (10-6) in the early going, but the 49ers came back to tie it up at 17-17 after a block by Lotman. LBSU went on a 6-3 run capped by an Alexander kill to take a 28-27 lead, but the Trojans scored the last three points as a USC block ended the set. The Trojans hit .333 to the 49ers .265.

It was all USC in game three as they hit an impressive .650 in the 30-24 victory.

The 49ers return to action on Saturday evening as they take on No. 1-ranked Pepperdine (18-1, 14-1 MPSF) at 7 pm in the Walter Pyramid. The Waves have won 15 matches in a row with their last and only loss of the season coming to the 49ers on January 19.

[roy]

Bad for Long Beach, great for USC. Hawaii's wins over Northridge as well as the series tie break against USC put them in striking distance for the MPSF tournament. But USC's wins gives them 7 wins and still leaves an opportunity to make the MPSF tournament, especially considering they still have Northridge on their schedule. UCSD and Stanford are almost mathmatically eliminated from the tournament. Long Beach is getting very close to not making the MPSF tournament. The series against Hawaii will be crucial.

[sexy]

that juan guy is an extra hottie!!

[volleyfred]

Not just bad for long beach, real bad for long beach. 6 wins with their schedule... Bad news.

Even if they beat UH twice, that would only give them 8 wins. They lose the tie break with CSUN (assuming that CSUN beats Stanford to get 8 wins), and USC (again, assuming that USC beats Stanford giving them 8 wins).

UH has 5 wins with UCSD (2x) and Stanford (2x) still left on the schedule... So, UH will have 9 wins, even if they lose twice to long beach.

Long beach will now play Pepperdine, BYU (2x @ BYU), UH (2x), UCLA, and UCI. If they get into playoffs now, they will have earned it. I never count a team out, but it looks like long beach is in trouble.

[aaronic]

sexy said:

that juan guy is an extra hottie!!

...I like to use smileys too...

[shankapotamus]

Interesting turn of events. Kudos to SC for getting the "V," however after seeing the Beach vs. UCI, it seemed that Beach was on the rise with their young talent meshing. They are big and powerful played some excellent ball-- especially with Caldwell @ libero. The are competitors-- unfortunately it looks the "young" in them came out tonight-- either that or the Trojans are beginning to make a run for the MPSF playoffs!

[Mac]

LBS had a great promotion to get their greeks out to the game, so there was a strong student fan base at this match. Other schools might want to call the LBS people and ask them how they did it. A number of frats were there in force with signs and cheered the entire match. Many had signs and costumes. When the match was over the PA announcer announced winners of a contest. I guess based on their look and their level of enthusiasm frats were awarded money. If this were at UCSB or CSUN it would have completely overwhelmed the seating in those small gyms and gave those schools a big home court fan advantage. Made it fun too.