49ers
go undefeated as tournament host
Jon Cook/On-line Forty-Niner
Senior
middle blocker David Lee soars for a kill.
Lee and the 49ers won both of its matches
at The Pyramid last weekend.
By
Paul DeCarlo
On-line Forty-Niner
The
Long Beach State men's volleyball team was
largely untested during the Asics/Active
Ankle Beach Bash Tournament this past weekend,
cruising to win two matches at home.
Although
Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (10-6) made it
interesting late by stealing a game, the
49ers (19-4, 12-3) held to take the match,
3-1 (30-21, 30-16, 30-32, 30-27), Saturday
night in The Pyramid. Senior outside hitter
Jeff Wootton recorded his 1,000th career
kill, becoming the 13th 49er to do so, giving
him a total of 17 for the match. Scott Touzinsky
added 16 kills and six digs in the victory.
"There
are a lot of good players that have come
through here," Wootton said of his
achievement. "It's nice, but I'll take
a ring over 1,000 kills any day."
The
Mastodons rallied late to win game three
32-30 after Long Beach State forced match
point on two separate occasions occasions.
IPFW benefited from a 49er mental mishap
when a player stepped over the line to give
the third game to the Mastodons.
Outside
hitter Matt Zbyszewski tallied 28 kills
on the night for IPFW, helping the team
stay competitive with the 49ers throughout
the final two games. The Beach led in the
attack percentage over IPFW .394 to .264,
but the edge in team blocks went to the
Mastodons 11.5 to 8.
"I
pretty much knew what to expect in regards
to their athleticism," said IPFW head
coach Arnie Ball, who coached a few 49ers
on the USA Volleyball team last summer.
"All of our kids are underclassmen,
and we are just trying to get some high-level
experience so that we can get better day
in and day out."
Friday,
the 49ers secured a three-game sweep against
Rutgers-Newark (30-20, 30-21, 30-17) getting
things done without Wootton and Touzinsky,
who were both sidelined. Robert Tarr totaled
11 kills and 10 digs, while setter Tyler
Hildebrand added 38 assists to pace The
Beach.
Rutgers-Newark
never got within 10 points on the night,
allowing Long Beach State to play deep into
its bench. The Scarlet Raiders had only
a .129 hitting percentage for the match
and put up 16 serving errors.
"The
motto of this team all year [has been] how
deep we are," 49er head coach Alan
Knipe said. "Our first team doesn't
always win in practice. A lot of times,
the toughest opponent we see is our second
team, and that's a great thing to have."
Although
The Beach barely seemed to break a sweat,
Hildebrand had a good time playing with
some new faces on the court.
"It's
the most fun," Hildebrand said. "Being
an underclassman, most of these guys playing
tonight were my friends."
Long
Beach State heads on the road to play the
University of the Pacific Friday, March
26 then faces Stanford in Palo Alto Saturday,
March 27.
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