A 3-0 loss to No. 15 Penn State inside the Walter Pyramid capped off an up-and-down weekend for the No. 9 Long Beach State men’s volleyball team in the Asics Tournament Friday and Saturday night
Sophomore outside hitter Eric Ensing led the 49ers (11-9, 7-8 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) to a sweep over Harvard (9-7, 3-2 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) with a career-high 11 kills. Ensing said everything starts with the team coming together in practice.
“It’s all a team effort,” Ensing said. “I felt comfortable with the whole team, and we all put in our equal effort to get better.”
The 49ers came out strong in the first two sets, hitting .278 percent to Harvard’s .182 percent in set one and .324 percent to .207 in the second set.
LBSU head coach Alan Knipe rotated his line-up multiple times and said his team did a great job of staying calm on the court and keeping its attention to detail.
“We gave a couple of guys some opportunities that haven’t had some chances this year and I thought they did a really good job,” Knipe said. “I thought John Henry in his first opportunity did some really good things.”
Henry, a junior middle blocker, totaled five blocks and five kills in his first start with a hitting percentage of .556.
“We were just trying to make the plays within our system,” Henry said. “We tried to keep composed and get good touches on the block and we did a good job of that in the beginning and kept that going in the second and third [sets].”
The Nittany Lions (9-9, 4-0 EIVA) swept the 49ers Saturday night after LBSU failed to overcome a slow start. Penn State’s senior outside hitter Aaron Russell and freshman opposite hitter Jalin Penrose dominated the 49ers up front.
Russell and Penrose hit .414 and .167, respectively, on the night. Penrose also registered four service aces with only one error.
“We spend a lot of time on the serve and we have a lot of physical guys who get a hold on the ball,” Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik said.
The 49ers dug a hole for themselves in the second set when Penn State went up by ten near the end and eventually put it away on a Russell kill.
Knipe said although the 49ers fell to the Nittany Lions, it was good for the team to face a difficult opponent in Penn State.
He said the matches will prepare and energize the 49ers for their upcoming league matches.
“Penn State brought a lot of physicality out there especially from the service line,” Knipe said. “Ultimately they kept us out of system long enough that they made it real stressful on our offense.”
The 49ers will continue their home stand against Cal-Baptist Wednesday night and USC Friday night.