Post by bigfan on Apr 29, 2006 11:13:39 GMT -5
49ers, Bruins play for NCAA automatic berth
By Frank Burlison, Long BeachPress Staff writer
The Long Beach State and UCLA volleyball teams hook up for the fourth time this season tonight at 7 p.m. in UC Irvine's Bren Center.
And what is at stake renders the results of the first three meetings moot: the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's automatic spot in next week's NCAA Championships at Penn State.
The No. 2-ranked 49ers (23-9) and No. 7 Bruins (23-12) cruised past their Thursday night semifinal opponents, top-ranked UC Irvine and No. 3 Pepperdine, respectively. And they did so in comparable as in overwhelming fashion, winning in three straight games.
The impressive nature (30-26, 30-28 and 30-23) nature of UCLA's 11th consecutive victory seemed to come as little surprise to at least one 49er.
"They didn't look that much different than a month ago when they did the same thing to us," said Tyler Hildebrand, a soon-to-be three-time All-America setter, referring to the Bruins' sweep (30-21, 30-28 and 30-28) of visiting Long Beach in the Wooden Center on March 31.
The most recent meeting of the teams was just the third win in the current streak by Coach Al Scates' club. The 49ers won the first two meetings, in four games in the final of a tournament in Santa Barbara on Jan. 7, and in a sweep in the Walter Pyramid on Feb. 25.
Junior opposite Steve Klosterman, who was born in Long Beach but graduated from Marina High, had 10 kills Thursday night and, according to Scates, is finally free to fire away as often as he can be set after being limited in his swing attempts for much of the season while recovering from shoulder surgery last June.
And senior setter Dennis Gonzalez had 48 assists and six digs against the Waves in his first start in 12 matches after recovering from a high-ankle sprain in Honolulu in the second week of March.
"He (Scates) has all of his players in the spots where he wants them now," Long Beach Coach Alan Knipe said.
But the 49ers, who picked up their sixth consecutive match victory Thursday night (and have lost just twice in their past 20 games), are also without question as close to the top of their game as they've been this season.
"It was a much better and more complete effort, not just physically but in focus and intensity," Knipe said of the victory over the Anteaters.
"And that was in large part due to the attitude of (seniors) Tyler (Hildebrand), Robert (Tarr) and Duncan (Budinger). They led by example and the rest of the guys followed suit."
Tonight's losing players and coaches will no doubt believe their team will have a compelling argument for being awarded the May 4-6 championships' one at-large selection.
"That is something that will be up to the (NCAA Volleyball Championships) committee to decide," Knipe said, a few hours before his team's Friday afternoon practice in the Bren Center. "But that's not something I want to talk or think about right now."
Knipe, and his players, were bitterly disappointed a year ago when the Bruins were given the at-large bid instead of them.
MPSF NOTES: The match will be broadcast live by College Sports Television (CSTV), which is available to those with DirecTV packages. Tickets ($20 for adults and $5 for students), with all seating reserved, are available at the door and by contacting the UCI ticket office (949/824-5000). … The at-large selection and the March 4 semifinal matchups (and starting times) will be unveiled on ESPN News at 12:30 Sunday afternoon. … Some of Long Beach's most outstanding volleyball players ever, including Brent Hilliard and Brett Winslow, (teammates of Knipe's on the school's only men's NCAA championship team in 1991), as well as Misty May, were in the crowd Thursday night. "It was awesome," Knipe said.
By Frank Burlison, Long BeachPress Staff writer
The Long Beach State and UCLA volleyball teams hook up for the fourth time this season tonight at 7 p.m. in UC Irvine's Bren Center.
And what is at stake renders the results of the first three meetings moot: the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's automatic spot in next week's NCAA Championships at Penn State.
The No. 2-ranked 49ers (23-9) and No. 7 Bruins (23-12) cruised past their Thursday night semifinal opponents, top-ranked UC Irvine and No. 3 Pepperdine, respectively. And they did so in comparable as in overwhelming fashion, winning in three straight games.
The impressive nature (30-26, 30-28 and 30-23) nature of UCLA's 11th consecutive victory seemed to come as little surprise to at least one 49er.
"They didn't look that much different than a month ago when they did the same thing to us," said Tyler Hildebrand, a soon-to-be three-time All-America setter, referring to the Bruins' sweep (30-21, 30-28 and 30-28) of visiting Long Beach in the Wooden Center on March 31.
The most recent meeting of the teams was just the third win in the current streak by Coach Al Scates' club. The 49ers won the first two meetings, in four games in the final of a tournament in Santa Barbara on Jan. 7, and in a sweep in the Walter Pyramid on Feb. 25.
Junior opposite Steve Klosterman, who was born in Long Beach but graduated from Marina High, had 10 kills Thursday night and, according to Scates, is finally free to fire away as often as he can be set after being limited in his swing attempts for much of the season while recovering from shoulder surgery last June.
And senior setter Dennis Gonzalez had 48 assists and six digs against the Waves in his first start in 12 matches after recovering from a high-ankle sprain in Honolulu in the second week of March.
"He (Scates) has all of his players in the spots where he wants them now," Long Beach Coach Alan Knipe said.
But the 49ers, who picked up their sixth consecutive match victory Thursday night (and have lost just twice in their past 20 games), are also without question as close to the top of their game as they've been this season.
"It was a much better and more complete effort, not just physically but in focus and intensity," Knipe said of the victory over the Anteaters.
"And that was in large part due to the attitude of (seniors) Tyler (Hildebrand), Robert (Tarr) and Duncan (Budinger). They led by example and the rest of the guys followed suit."
Tonight's losing players and coaches will no doubt believe their team will have a compelling argument for being awarded the May 4-6 championships' one at-large selection.
"That is something that will be up to the (NCAA Volleyball Championships) committee to decide," Knipe said, a few hours before his team's Friday afternoon practice in the Bren Center. "But that's not something I want to talk or think about right now."
Knipe, and his players, were bitterly disappointed a year ago when the Bruins were given the at-large bid instead of them.
MPSF NOTES: The match will be broadcast live by College Sports Television (CSTV), which is available to those with DirecTV packages. Tickets ($20 for adults and $5 for students), with all seating reserved, are available at the door and by contacting the UCI ticket office (949/824-5000). … The at-large selection and the March 4 semifinal matchups (and starting times) will be unveiled on ESPN News at 12:30 Sunday afternoon. … Some of Long Beach's most outstanding volleyball players ever, including Brent Hilliard and Brett Winslow, (teammates of Knipe's on the school's only men's NCAA championship team in 1991), as well as Misty May, were in the crowd Thursday night. "It was awesome," Knipe said.