MONDAY, MAY 10, 1999

BYU busts The Beach at NCAA chapionship

By Greg Hanson

On-Line Forty-Niner

The highly anticipated rematch between the Long Beach State men's volleyball team and Brigham Young did not turn out to be what was expected. It ended up being a Brigham Young highlight show.

The 49ers lost the NCAA Championship Saturday night at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion in straight sets, 9-15, 7-15, 10-15, in front of 8,026 fans, most of which were BYU fans.

"The bottom line is BYU kicked our butt and that's the way it is," 49er volleyball coach Ray Ratelle said.

The Beach beat Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne Thursday night in the first round of the tournament.

The 49ers threatened the Cougars' lead in the third game when they opened up a 7-0 lead, but their hopes were soon destroyed by Tournament MVP Ossie Antonetti and his fellow Cougars.

Despite the loss, 49er players David McKienzie, outside hitter, and Chris Seiffert, setter, were named to the All Tournament Team.

McKienzie led The Beach with 19 kills and 15 digs while Seiffert had 65 assists against BYU. Against IPFW on Thursday night, Seiffert posted a triple-double with 65 assists, 10 digs and 12 blocks. McKienzie had 37 kills and six digs against IPFW.

The Cougars avenged their only loss of the season, which was to The Beach on March 19 in Provo, Utah.

"We were a little out of sync," Chris Seiffert said. "It was tough. We didn't consistently make plays. Things looked good in the third game but it turned around. It just didn't happen."

The 49ers' offense never got going. Their hitting percentage for the match was .156. In the second game, the 49ers' hitting percentage was .000.

"It wasn't our night tonight," Ratelle said. "Everything we did seemed to be wrong. There are nights when you can't do much right. We've been able to come back before but against BYU it doesn't happen."

. Captain Matt Prosser had 14 kills, Jim Polster had 18 kills with 12 digs and Scott Faber and Curtis Jackson both had eight kills and nine digs.

The 49ers managed to beat out the Cougars in digs, 56-55, but blocking was a different story. BYU had 23.5 team blocks. The 49ers had 11.5 for the match. The Beach also committed 43 hitting errors compared to 21 by the Cougars.

"I've been around this game for 30 years and I've seen it before," Ratelle said. "It may well be that BYU's just too good for us. We thought we could beat them but it didn't happen."

"We felt really good before the match," Prosser said. "The ball just bounced their way tonight."