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Hildebrand
assisting in success of Long Beach State
By
Matt Pearson
Sports Editor
Online Forty-Niner
After
leading the No. 4-ranked Long Beach State
men's volleyball team to wins over No. 1-ranked
Pepperdine and No. 15-ranked USC, the Sports
Imports/American Volleyball Coaches Association
named junior setter Tyler Hildebrand National
Player of the Week.
Hildebrand,
who was a 2004 AVCA All-American, averaged
14.67 assists, 1.67 digs and .50 blocks
per game last week in the duplicate 3-0
sweeps over Pepperdine and USC Hildebrand
also leads the nation in assists per game,
with 14.04.
Against
Pepperdine on March 30 at The Walter Pyramid,
Hildebrand accumulated three kills, two
digs and 43 assists to lead the 49er offense
to a .420 hitting percentage.
Hildebrand
continued his strong play against USC by
posting eight digs, three blocks and 45
assists as the 49ers posted a .337 hitting
percentage in the win.
This
is the third career National Player of the
Week award for Hildebrand. The only player
in school history with more is David McKienzie
(1999-2001), who won four.
In
2004, Hildebrand was named as a Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation First Team All-Conference
player, as he tallied 1,774 assists (14.17
per game). This broke the sophomore single-season
mark of 1,508.
As
a freshman, Hildebrand was the first in
school history to receive the AVCA Newcomer
of the Year award. After averaging 15.17
assists, 1.41 digs and .57 blocks per game
Hildebrand also received the MPSF Freshman
of the Year Award.
At
Red Mountain High School in Mesa, Ariz.
Hildebrand was a multi-sport athlete, lettering
in four sports: basketball, golf, volleyball
and baseball. He won the Volleyball Co-Player
of the Year award in Arizona his senior
year, and also earned first team All-State
honors his junior and senior year.
Hildebrand
can be seen along with the rest of the 49ers
as they take on No. 6-ranked Hawaii this
Thursday and Friday at The Walter Pyramid.
Thursday's game will be televised on CSTV
(directTV ch. 610) at 7:00 p.m.
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