The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team (11-8) kept it close, but was still swept by Penn State 30-28, 30-28, 30-27, Saturday night in the final match of the Active Ankle tournament at the Walter Pyramid.
Senior Dean Bittner led the ‘Niners with 22 kills, while hitting .405 for the match. Sophomore Jim Baughman added 14 kills on .444 hitting. Conor Eaton dished out 49 assists and senior Tommy Pestolesi topped the defense with 10 digs.
LBSU head coach Andy Read took responsibility for his team’s loss after the match.
“I made a couple moves I want to take back,” Read said. “I’ll take responsibility as the coach.”
The second set was hotly-contested with neither team establishing dominance. With 19 ties, the set was close throughout. The set was up for grabs as junior Antwain Aguillard tied it, 28-28, after blocking a Penn State attack. The Nittany Lions scored the next two points to take a two-frame lead over The Beach.
LBSU started off the match well, taking an early lead in the first set. PSU stayed close though, and started to get into a rhythm.
The Nittany Lions (15-3) tied the set, 19-19, forcing LBSU to take a timeout. Penn State stayed in rhythm after the pause in action and took control of the set, closing it out at 30-28.
“We were up early on them,” Read said. “Then we had a hard time slowing them down. They were doing what they wanted to do.”
In the third frame, LBSU came out without its usual energy. The Nittany Lions played with confidence and continued to bring the pressure. Bittner kept the 49ers alive with his dominating play, racking up 10 kills and three digs in the frame.
“[Bittner] was just playing that well,” Read said. “They were putting the pressure on us at the line and Dean responded.”
Despite Bittner’s performance, PSU was able to hold off The Beach and closed the match with freshman Nick Turko’s ace.
The Nittany Lions were led by junior Will Price who hit .459 for 21 kills and six digs.
LBSU returns to action with back-to-back matches at Hawaii on March 19 and 20.
The Beach will be away from the Pyramid for the next couple of weeks and won’t have another home game until March 26 when it hosts Pacific. The 49ers close out the season playing seven of their final eight games at home against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponents.