WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 1999

Volleyball team tries for title

By Greg Hanson

On-Line Forty-Niner

The Long Beach State men's volleyball team will try to equal the feat of the women's team this weekend when it competes in the NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament for the national title at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion.

The tournament starts Thursday with the 49ers playing in the late match. Brigham Young (28-1), the No. 1 team in the nation, will play No. 4 seed Penn State (22-12) at 6:30 p.m.

The 49ers (21-3), the No. 2 seed, will play No. 3, Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (23-3), 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first match. The championship match will be at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The Beach lost Thursday in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament to USC, but received the at-large berth the NCAA awards to one team for the NCAA Tournament.

The 49ers, despite not winning the conference, are ranked higher than Penn State, which won the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association and Indiana-Purdue, which won the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.

The Beach has not played Indiana-Purdue this season, but defeated Brigham Young at Provo, Utah on March 19. The win temporarily placed the 49ers in the No. 1 rank in the nation.

The 49ers' schedule has been tougher than Indiana-Purdue's. Other than beating Brigham Young, the No. 1 team in the nation, the team also defeated other top teams such as Pepperdine, UCLA, USC and Hawaii.

Long Beach State's record against ranked teams is 16-3, the second best record in the country.