The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team will play for third place at the 45th annual Elephant Bar Restaurant Collegiate Invitational on Saturday.
The fourth-ranked 49ers (1-1) will play No. 14 and tournament host UC Santa Barbara (1-1) at Robertson Gymnasium in Santa Barbara. First serve is scheduled for 4 p.m.
LBSU defeated UC Irvine (1-1) but lost to No. 8 Stanford (2-0) to split their first two regular season matches of the season Friday.
The ‘Niners swept the No. 6 Anteaters, 30-28, 30-28, 30-25, behind Dean Bittner’s match-high 26 kills and team-leading six blocks.
Middle blockers Dan Alexander and Jim Baughman played error-free for the defending Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular season champions.
Alexander collected 10 kills and hit an impressive .710, while Baughman, a freshman, chipped in nine kills on .516 hitting.
Against the Cardinal, LBSU fell 30-28, 27-30, 20-30, 28-30.
Of the eight teams in the tournament, seven are nationally-ranked and it’s regarded as the strongest tournament in the nation.