The 49er men’s volleyball team (12-15, 8-12 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) had opportunities to finish off No. 7 UCLA in the fourth and fifth sets before allowing them to slip away on Friday night at the Walter Pyramid.
The MPSF bout went five sets before the Bruins (15-11, 10-9 MPSF) pulled out a 30-24, 22-30, 23-30, 30-28, 16-14 win to send Long Beach State reeling to its fifth straight defeat.
With only two matches remaining, the 49ers might have to win both to qualify for the eight-team MPSF tournament.
“I’d be thoroughly disappointed if we weren’t ready to play on Thursday (against Pepperdine),” Beach head coach Andy Read said.
With four players racking up double-digit kills for the ‘Niners, junior Antwain Aguillard commended his team’s effort despite the loss.
“Everyone was giving it,” Aguillard said. “I don’t think anyone wasn’t playing the best they could tonight.”
Senior Dean Bittner led the 49ers with 18 kills and five aces, while classmate Dan Alexander racked up 16 kills on .458 hitting. Tommy Pestolesi contributed 14 kills and Aguillard knocked in 10 kills of his own.
Conor Eaton dished out 56 assists and Kirk Francis led the LBSU defense with 11 digs.
The 49ers appeared to be in position to take the match on several occasions in the fifth set.
The Beach went up 7-4 to force a Bruin timeout, before UCLA then came out hot after the pause in action and quickly tied the set, 7-7. LBSU answered with three straight points, but the Bruins weren’t fazed, however, as they came back to tie it again at 10-10.
A service ace by junior Kyle Friend gave The Beach a match point chance at 14-12, but the Bruins rallied back thanks to 49er miscues to grab the set, 16-14. Bittner’s momentum carried him under the net to hand UCLA the decisive point.
Read was disappointed in how his team closed out the match.
“They got game four and we had two runs in game five, made a great dig, we were exactly where we wanted to be,” Read said. “We didn’t finish the match.”
The 49ers could have ended the match in the fourth set, as well, in a frame that saw 13 ties. LBSU appeared to have momentum on its side with a 26-23 lead, but UCLA continued to fight and eventually won, 30-28, to force a fifth set.
The Beach rolled to a third-set win after hitting .333 and holding UCLA to .061 in the frame.
The 49ers hit .536 in the second set and received eight kills from Alexander to take the frame, 30-22. LBSU was able to stay in control throughout the set and eventually closed it out on a Bittner kill.
The first set was all Bruins as the visitors hit .524 while holding LBSU to a mediocre .138 clip. The 49ers swatted 13 kills to UCLA’s 12, but errors proved to be the difference as LBSU committed nine to UCLA’s one.
Sophomore Jack Polales led the Bruins with 18 kills behind senior Kevin Ker’s 46 assists.
LBSU returns to action on Thursday against Pepperdine at the Pyramid and finishes the season Saturday when USC pays a visit. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.
Aguillard said, “We just have to go out to win both games. We can’t drag our heads because of this loss.”