The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team was in desperate need for a win as it hosted the Pacific Tigers on Saturday night.
Although it wasn’t pretty, the end result was a victory as the 49ers came back to win the match 29-31, 30-13, 25-30, 30-21, 15-8 at the Walter Pyramid.
The 49ers (11-13, 8-11 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) were able to keep Pacific (3-24, 0-18 MPSF) winless in conference play after being down two sets to one.
“We obviously put ourselves with our backs against the wall,” head coach Alan Knipe said. “But I felt that we were very much in control of the match when we played as we were capable of.”
UOP won the first set by controlling the net after The Beach jumped out to an early 4-1 lead. They were a thorn in the ‘Niners side by stifling the attack as LBSU managed to hit just .073. The 49ers were in striking distance but couldn’t overcome 11 errors as they dropped the opening frame.
In the second set, Long Beach State improved its fortunes by hitting .611 and only committing two errors. Jim Baughman collected back-to-back service aces to put The Beach up 19-5 as the 49ers went on to win the set easily.
The 49ers were able to get back in the match by playing the fourth set like they did the second. The Beach went on a 4-0 run to take an early 7-5 lead in the set. LBSU never looked back as it grinded out another conference win.
“Once we started getting in a little bit of a rhythm in Game 4, it was just about maintaining it, which has been our Achilles’ [heel] all year,” Knipe said.
Josh Riley had a team-high 22 kills and four blocks while Dean Bittner added 20 kills while hitting at a .318 clip for the match.
Mike Klipsch had 50 assists and 12 digs while Dustin Watten compiled a game-high of 13 digs.
The 49ers will continue MPSF action on Friday as they host the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at 7 p.m.