Long Beach @ UC Irvine

[Rocky]

IRVINE, CA – The fourth-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team defeated UC Irvine, 3-1 (30-26, 30-23, 29-31, 30-25) in the final Mountain Sports Federation (MPSF) match of the season at Crawford Court Saturday. Long Beach State will play Hawaii in the Quaterfinals of the MPSF playoffs on Saturday, Apr. 23.

LBSU will host the Warriors as a No. 4-seed if Hawaii loses to Pacific later tonight. The 49ers will travel to Hawaii as a No. 5-seed if UH defeats Pacific.

Long Beach State improved 20-9, 14-8 MPSF, while No. 12 UCI ended its year at 9-20, 7-15 in league play. The win also gave Long Beach State back-to-back 20-win seasons.

Robert Tarr paced the 49ers with 19 kills at a .406 hitting clip, while Yassir Sliti poured in 16 kills and four blocks. Duncan Budinger chipped in with 10 kills and seven blocks. Teddy Liles posted six kills (no errors) on 10 attempts with six blocks, including two solo blocks. All-American setter, Tyler Hildebrand notched 42 assists, three kills, two aces, and four blocks. Hildebrand leads the nation in total assists and assists per game. As a team, the 49ers hit for a .347 attack percentage (54-20-98) and out-dug the Anteaters, 23-15, and out-blocked UCI, 16.5-11. Matt Webber recorded 21 kills to lead UC Irvine in the losing effort.

LBSU used a .519 hitting percentage to capture game one, 30-26. Despite hitting just .182, the 49ers also managed a 30-23 game two victory. UCI hit just .036 in the second stanza.

The Anteaters led 15-11 in game four, before Long Beach State went on a 9-2 run to go up 19-17. Five points on the run were on UCI miscues. The 49ers would not relinquish the lead after that point taking the game 30-25 and the match 3-1.

In other MPSF action on Saturday night, BYU defeated Stanford, 3-1 to secure the No. 3-seed, while UC Santa Barbara defeated USC, 3-0 to lock up the No. 6-seed.

Long Beach State | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 Hildebrand, Tyler... 4| 3 1 4 .500| 42| 2 4| 0| 2| 0 4 0| 0| 7.0
8 Hagstrom, Nathan.... 3| 0 1 3 -.333| 1| 1 5| 0| 2| 0 1 0| 0| 1.5
13 Liles, Teddy........ 4| 6 0 10 .600| 3| 0 1| 0| 0| 2 4 2| 0| 10.0
14 Sliti, Yassir....... 4| 16 7 28 .321| 1| 1 5| 0| 3| 0 4 1| 0| 19.0
17 Budinger, Duncan.... 4| 10 4 18 .333| 1| 0 1| 0| 1| 1 6 2| 0| 14.0
24 Tarr, Robert........ 4| 19 6 32 .406| 1| 1 4| 2| 4| 0 4 2| 0| 22.0
1 Caldwell, Tyler..... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 1 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0
2 Lotman, Paul........ 4| 0 1 3 -.333| 0| 1 1| 2| 4| 0 4 1| 0| 3.0
6 Valdez, Francisco... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
20 Munoz, Paul......... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 2| 0 0| 1| 6| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals.............. 4| 54 20 98 .347| 52| 7 21| 5| 23| 3 27 8| 0| 77.5

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 16.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 16 2 27 .519 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 TEAM RECORDS
2 11 7 22 .182 Long Beach State.... (3) 30 30 29 30 20-9,14-8
3 13 3 21 .476 UC Irvine........... (1) 26 23 31 25 9-20,7-15
4 14 8 28 .214

UC Irvine | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7 Thornton, Brian..... 4| 1 0 3 .333| 48| 0 2| 0| 2| 0 1 0| 0| 1.5
11 Jablonsky, Jayson... 4| 20 7 33 .394| 0| 0 4| 1| 1| 0 1 0| 0| 20.5
13 Webber, Matt........ 4| 21 6 37 .405| 0| 1 6| 0| 2| 1 2 1| 0| 24.0
15 Smith, David........ 4| 4 3 9 .111| 1| 1 6| 0| 2| 1 2 2| 0| 7.0
21 Harrell, Aaron...... 4| 3 2 10 .100| 0| 0 4| 1| 1| 0 6 1| 0| 6.0
31 Steffin Rangel...... 2| 4 5 17 -.059| 0| 1 4| 1| 0| 0 2 0| 1| 6.0
4 Fitch, Dillon....... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 6| 0 1| 0| 1| 1 1 0| 0| 1.5
10 Spittle, Paul....... 4| 6 3 10 .300| 1| 2 0| 2| 5| 0 1 1| 1| 8.5
12 Simpson, Brett...... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
14 Mel, Brandon........ 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 2| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
18 Kohout, Brett....... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals.............. 4| 59 26 119 .277| 56| 5 28| 7| 15| 3 16 5| 2| 75.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 19 5 37 .378 Site: Irvine, CA (Crawford Court)
2 10 9 28 .036 Date: Apr 16, 2005 Attend: 730 Time: 1:57
3 17 6 27 .407 Referees: Scott Hogue, Alvin Dong
4 13 6 27 .259

[bigfan]

LBSU gets past UCI

By Press-Telegram staff reports

Two days after its biggest victory of the season, the Long Beach State men's volleyball team seemed primed for a letdown.
UC Irvine wasn't so lucky.

The 49ers eased to a 3-1 victory at Crawford Court on Saturday night in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation finale for both teams.

The win means LBSU will face No. 4 Hawaii in the MPSF tournament quarterfinals next Saturday, although it was unclear when the Press-Telegram went to press where that match will be played.

Hawaii, which hosted Pacific late Saturday night, could wrap up the home-court advantage with a win. A loss by Hawaii would put the game at the Pyramid.

Robert Tarr paced the 49ers (20-9, 14-8 MPSF) with 19 kills in the 30-26, 30-23, 29-31, 30-25 win.

"It was a good win for us tonight, especially since it was on the road," said LBSU coach Alan Knipe, whose team upset top-ranked UCLA on Thursday. "I'm happy with the way we played."

Yassir Sliti added 16 kills and four blocks, while Duncan Budinger had 10 kills and seven blocks for LBSU. All-American setter Tyler Hildebrand had 42 assists, three kills, two aces and four blocks.

As a team, the 49ers hit for a .347 attack percentage (54-20-98), outdug the Anteaters, 23-15, and outblocked UCI, 16.5-11.