Kills • Norm
Hutton had a career-high 26 kills in
the win against BYU Saturday night
(top). The Beach celebrates after
the 3-1 victory. They play in the semifinals
Thursday against UC Irvine (below).
Tracey Roman / Online Forty-Niner
Aggressive
attacks allow advancement to semifinals
By
Kim Oswell
Online Forty-Niner
Sports Editor
A fierce fight to the finish in a 3-1 victory over BYU solidified a spot for
Long Beach State men’s volleyball in the MPSF semifinals, which take
place Thursday against rival UC Irvine. The night stretched to four games,
with three games in favor of LBSU, 30-21, 30-23, 25-30, 30-25.
LBSU’s Norm Hutton was unstoppable for The Beach with a career-high 26
kills in the game, outdoing his previous record of 20 kills against BYU April
7. Hutton hit .568 in the four games and tallied four blocks.
“
Norm has been great,” Head Coach Alan Knipe said.” He is so physical
and is playing with a lot of aggressiveness. He is a lot to handle on the court.”
Senior All-American setter Tyler Hildebrand was a force at the net with 43
assists, seven digs and five kills.
The offense was backed by Senior Robert Tarr with 12 kills, Junior Teddy Liles
with eight blocks and Sophomore Paul Lotman with seven kills, five digs and
four blocks.
The Beach had a four-game-win-streak momentum coming into the game against
the Cougars, who had previously lost four straight to end the regular season.
The Cougars offense centered around freshman Yosleyder Cala who had 20 kills.
The Cougar’s offensive performance was helped by sophomore Ivan Perez
who had nine kills and sophomore Russell Holmes with seven kills and nine blocks.
Overall, LBSU out-blocked BYU 15.5 to 10.0 and out-hit them .396 to .184
The Beach came out swinging in the first game with a team attack percentage
of .739 compared to BYU with .194.
The second game started with the both teams neck and neck. The Beach called
a timeout when they were down 10-13 and came back to win the game 30-23.
LBSU scored first in the third game, but only had a .206 attack percentage
compared to a .290 percentage by the Cougars and lost by a 30-25 margin.
The loss of the third game fueled The Beach fire in the fourth as they won
30-25 and guaranteed themselves a place in the semifinals.
“
We were pretty good all night,” Knipe said. “They got some aces,
but the guys’ energy level was so high all night.”
The quarterfinals game against UC Irvine takes place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday
at the UCI Bren Events Center.
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