Post by bigfan on Apr 7, 2006 10:45:50 GMT -5
49ers rally to beat BYU
Men's volleyball: LBSU posts key win vs. No. 2 Cougars.
By Frank Burlison, Staff writer
Down 2-0 to the No. 2 team in the country, the Long Beach State men's volleyball team rallied to edge the Brigham Young University Cougars, pulling out Game 5, 15-13, Thursday night in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match. A Walter Pyramid crowd of 1,476 the 11th largest to watch a men's volleyball match in the building saw the 49ers snap a three-match losing streak that left them facing the likelihood of a road match to open MPSF playoff action in two weeks.
The 49ers, No. 7 in the American Volleyball Coaches' Association ratings, improved to 11-8 in conference and 18-9 overall with their first victory since knocking off Ohio State on March 18.
The Cougars, who opened the match with 31-29 and 30-26 wins, dropped to 14-5 and 18-5.
Coach Alan Knipe's team (which has a return match with BYU in the Walter Pyramid at 7:30 tonight) still has some obstacles to overcome in earning a home match to open playoff action. The 49ers are in sixth place in the conference standings.
But, after taking consecutive losses to Cal State Northridge, UCLA and top-ranked UC Irvine into the Thursday match, it was critical that the 49ers play solid volleyball.
"We needed to start playing good volleyball down the stretch so we could start feeling good about ourselves," Knipe said. "We have to just start worrying about ourselves and not the other side of the net."
The Cougars trailed 5-4 in Game 1 before going on a 12-2 run and never led by fewer than three points before prevailing despite committing 13 hitting errors and finishing with an .081 hitting percentage.
They were able to win because the Long Beach attack (-.027) was even more inept.
Both teams' attacks were sharper in Game 2 but the 49ers, getting a boost from reserve opposite Norm Hutton (who finished with 10 kills over the final three games), really got things going the rest of the way.
Long Beach, which got solid efforts from Robert Tarr (24 kills), Duncan Budinger (14) and Teddy Liles (nine), hit .310 and .583 in dominating Games 3 and 4 (30-26 and 30-22).
They fell behind 6-4 to start Game 5, then went ahead to stay, 10-9, on a Tarr kill off of one of Tyler Hildebrand's 52 assists which moved Hildebrand atop the school's career list with 6,375.
Tarr wrapped things up with another kill courtesy Hildebrand's set after Tyler Caldwell's dig.
"It was the kind of match in which we needed someone to bring some heat, and he (Hutton) absolutely brought it to the court," Knipe said.
Men's volleyball: LBSU posts key win vs. No. 2 Cougars.
By Frank Burlison, Staff writer
Down 2-0 to the No. 2 team in the country, the Long Beach State men's volleyball team rallied to edge the Brigham Young University Cougars, pulling out Game 5, 15-13, Thursday night in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match. A Walter Pyramid crowd of 1,476 the 11th largest to watch a men's volleyball match in the building saw the 49ers snap a three-match losing streak that left them facing the likelihood of a road match to open MPSF playoff action in two weeks.
The 49ers, No. 7 in the American Volleyball Coaches' Association ratings, improved to 11-8 in conference and 18-9 overall with their first victory since knocking off Ohio State on March 18.
The Cougars, who opened the match with 31-29 and 30-26 wins, dropped to 14-5 and 18-5.
Coach Alan Knipe's team (which has a return match with BYU in the Walter Pyramid at 7:30 tonight) still has some obstacles to overcome in earning a home match to open playoff action. The 49ers are in sixth place in the conference standings.
But, after taking consecutive losses to Cal State Northridge, UCLA and top-ranked UC Irvine into the Thursday match, it was critical that the 49ers play solid volleyball.
"We needed to start playing good volleyball down the stretch so we could start feeling good about ourselves," Knipe said. "We have to just start worrying about ourselves and not the other side of the net."
The Cougars trailed 5-4 in Game 1 before going on a 12-2 run and never led by fewer than three points before prevailing despite committing 13 hitting errors and finishing with an .081 hitting percentage.
They were able to win because the Long Beach attack (-.027) was even more inept.
Both teams' attacks were sharper in Game 2 but the 49ers, getting a boost from reserve opposite Norm Hutton (who finished with 10 kills over the final three games), really got things going the rest of the way.
Long Beach, which got solid efforts from Robert Tarr (24 kills), Duncan Budinger (14) and Teddy Liles (nine), hit .310 and .583 in dominating Games 3 and 4 (30-26 and 30-22).
They fell behind 6-4 to start Game 5, then went ahead to stay, 10-9, on a Tarr kill off of one of Tyler Hildebrand's 52 assists which moved Hildebrand atop the school's career list with 6,375.
Tarr wrapped things up with another kill courtesy Hildebrand's set after Tyler Caldwell's dig.
"It was the kind of match in which we needed someone to bring some heat, and he (Hutton) absolutely brought it to the court," Knipe said.