THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1999

The Beach busts Loyola Marymount

By Greg Hanson

Daily Forty-Niner

The Long Beach State men's volleyball team shattered the school record for block assists while just missing the record for total team blocks in its defeat of Loyola Marymount in The Pyramid.

The 49ers took the match 11-15, 15-12, 15-10, 15-12, Tuesday night. The team had 55 block assists, smashing the old record of 42, set in 1994. They also had 31 team blocks, barely missing the record of 33.5.

"We fended off a good team that had a seven-game winning streak," said outside hitter Curtis Jackson.

Middle blocker Matt Prosser had 16 blocks, just one shy of the school record for individual blocks. He also had 24 kills and a hitting percentage of .622. In 37 attempts, Prosser had only one error.

Scott Faber also had an incredible performance for The Beach. He recorded a triple-double, his third in the last five games. Faber finished with 19 kills, 13 blocks and 10 digs. David McKienzie blasted 33 kills along with eight digs and outside hitter Jim Polster came up big with 18 kills and seven digs.

After losing the first game 11-15, the 49ers went on a rampage, building up four-to-seven point leads in the next three games, all victories. Their defense held the Lions to a less than impressive .279 hitting percentage compared to the 49ers' .397. The Lions hit only .186 in the third game.

The scores made the match seem closer than it was, as third-ranked Long Beach let the ninth-ranked Lions creep back into each game after the 49ers built up their leads.

Setter Chris Seiffert sliced his arm in the second game diving into the press table, but continued to play after being bandaged up. He contributed 95 assists in the match for The Beach.

Faber said the 49ers were upset after their loss in the first game, but "we knew they (the Lions) couldn't hold up that level (for the rest of the match)."

"LMU came out with guns firing," Seiffert said. "We wanted to keep pressure on them with our serves (following the first game)," he said.

The 49ers improved their record to 15-1, and 12-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Loyola Marymount fell to 8-6, 7-5.