|
sports:
men's volleyball
Beach faces UCLA
for semis in Utah
By Gabriel Lefrancois
On-line Forty-Niner
Locking out Pepperdine
in the first-round of the playoffs, the Long Beach State men's
volleyball team heads out to Provo, Utah to take on the 21-7
overall UCLA Bruins tonight in the Smith Fieldhouse at Brigham
Young University.
The Beach, 18-8
overall, is headed into the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Tournament semifinals for the third time in the past four
years. This has been the goal of the organization since the
start of the 2001 season, said Head Coach Alan Knipe at the
beginning of the year.
LBSU has been on
a hot streak as of late, winning its last six matches including
four sweeps to Pepperdine twice, UC Santa Barbara and Cal
State Northridge. Stanford and top ranked BYU are also on
the list. The Beach is averaging 16.85 kills, 9.55 digs and
2.73 blocks per game, while hitting an outstanding .374.
The Bruins had
trouble in the first round against Stanford, having given
up two games to Cardinal in the regular season last Saturday,
but came through in the end defeating the 14-9 team in five
games. The Beach will try and sequester sophomore outside
hitter Cameron Mount and senior outside hitter Mark Williams,
who smashed 26 kills apiece in the win over Stanford.
As Knipe has said
over the 2001 regular season, every team in the playoffs is
equally tough to beat and the 49ers take each match as seriously
as the last.
Although LBSU trails
in its series with UCLA 64-19, the two teams have slit matches
this year, each winning on the others home court. At Polly
Pavilion, the 49ers won in five games and the Bruins won in
four games at The Pyramid on March 17. But with a red-hot
offense and a supporting defense, The Beach is determined
to bring home a National Championship.
Senior outside
hitter David McKienzie has proven himself worthy of a national
championship hitting an average of 5.58 kills per game, holding
the second best mark in the nation. McKienzie has reached
double digits in kills in nine consecutive games. He ranks
fourth in 49er history with 1,615 kills and ninth in digs
with 584. His season-high for kills is against UCLA, in which
McKienzie crushed 40.
Another senior
burning up the charts is outside hitter Jim Polster. In the
win last week over Pepperdine, Polster led The Beach with
15 kills, seven digs and four blocks. Polster has posted 17
double-figure kill matches, while hitting 3.56 on the season.
In the win over Pepperdine, Polster said that he would not
allow The Beach to fall to an early upset. Something every
coach would love to hear.
The game will be
broadcast on kbeach.org. Connect through www.longbeachstate.com
and click on the 49er Audio Broadcast icon in the upper left-hand
corner on the main page.
|
