The defending Canadian national champions gave the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team a quick season-opening loss Friday afternoon.
The Alberta Golden Bears defeated the 49ers 30-24, 30-24, 30-27 in an exhibition at the Gold Mine Gym.
“I knew [Alberta] would play at that level,” LBSU head coach Alan Knipe said. “I would’ve liked us to maintain a little higher level of composure … but it’s a tough opener. We get them again tomorrow night and hopefully we play better.”
LBSU welcomed back first-team All-American Dan Alexander (back surgery) and Kyle Friend (calf), who both missed the fall with injuries and were playing with the rest of the starters for the first time, Knipe said.
Junior second-team All-American Dean Bittner did all he could in the third set to keep the ‘Niners from being swept, posting a set-high 11 kills, but LBSU fell, 30-27.
The set featured 12 ties and six lead changes but the Golden Bears had an answer for seemingly every rally.
Trailing 18-17, a pair of kills by junior Tommy Pestolesi and Friend gave LBSU the lead and a Pestolesi ace forced Alberta to call timeout. The Golden Bears, then reeled off four of the next five points and seized control.
Bittner tallied a match-high 24 kills on .356 hitting for the 49ers, who enter the season picked third in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation preseason poll after appearing in the NCAA Tournament semifinals and winning the MPSF regular-season title last season.
“I just tried to do what I could to keep us alive,” Bittner said.
Pestolesi added nine kills for LBSU, while setter Mike Klipsch distributed a match-high 39 assists. Klipsch and senior libero Dustin Watten each finished with a team-high six digs.
Joel Schumand hit .400 for the match and collected a team-high 17 kills — including nine in the final set — for Alberta, which has been ranked No. 1 in Canada for 27 consecutive weeks dating back to November 2006.
“[Schumand] just found every hole possible that he could hit and he did it,” Bittner said.
Spencer Leiske and Ben Saxton combined for 11 of 21 block assists for the Golden Bears, who established their presence at the net with 12 1/2 team blocks.
Service errors marred the second set, which Alberta won, 30-24.
The teams combined to commit 16 errors from the serve, including nine by LBSU, which finished the match with 18.
“We served medium and we missed a lot,” Knipe said, assessing the level of his team’s performance. “So, we’ve got to be a little bit better with creating some problems with our serve.”
The Golden Bears limited the 49ers to just a .182 hitting percentage in the opening set while connecting for a .310 clip. LBSU was plagued by nine hitting errors in the first set and ended the match with a woeful 25.
The ‘Niners return five starters and a libero from a team that finished 23-7 last season. In addition, the 49ers’ roster features nine newcomers and walk-ons, including seven freshmen; most notably, middle blocker Jim Baughman, who started in the match and was the lone freshman to see action.
Missing, however, was one key member of last season’s success: NCAA Player of the Year Paul Lotman, who graduated.
“Well, you lose the NCAA Player of the Year in any sport, it’s going to take some time,” Knipe said. “First of all, you don’t replace Paul. We’re going to have to figure it out as a group.”
Both teams will face each other again tomorrow night at the Walter Pyramid. The time of the match was changed to 6 p.m.