Men's Volleyball, Sports

Men’s volleyball draws familiar MPSF foe

Head coach Alan Knipe won’t need much time to scout the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team’s first-round Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament opponent.

The No. 7-seeded 49ers will travel to Malibu to face the No. 2 Pepperdine Waves — the defending MPSF champions — at Firestone Fieldhouse Saturday night. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Waves (20-4, 18-4 MPSF) have won five consecutive meetings — and six of the last seven — against the ‘Niners dating back to last season. Pepperdine eliminated LBSU in last year’s MPSF Tournament semifinals, as well as the NCAA Final Four.

The Waves lead the all-time series, 44-35 — including a 3-1 record in the MPSF Tournament and 9-3 at Firestone Fieldhouse.

The Beach (14-13, 11-11 MPSF) is led by the trio of Dustin Watten (342 digs, 3.23 per set), Dean Bittner (575 kills, 5.42 per set and .309 hitting percentage) and Dan Alexander (119 blocks, 1.38 per set and .384 hitting percentage).

Guiding the 49er attack all season has been sophomore setter Mike Klipsch, whose 13.35 assists per set (1,362 total) ranks fourth in the nation. His counterpart, Pepperdine’s Kasey Crider, will enter the match-up second in the nation at 13.9 assists per set (1,265 total).

The Waves’ go-to man is Australian senior opposite Paul Carroll, who missed the lone match the 49ers have won against Pepperdine in the past two seasons. Carroll has 572 kills (6.29 per set) while hitting .395 this season.

One man LBSU won’t have to worry about seeing is senior outside hitter J.D. Schleppenbach, who has missed the entire season recovering from shoulder surgery. Schleppenbach was a big part of the Waves’ success last season, earning a spot on the MPSF and NCAA Tournament teams.

Earlier this season, the 49ers dropped a five-set match to the Waves at the Walter Pyramid and a four-setter in Malibu. LBSU allowed Pepperdine to average a .332 hitting percentage in the two matches.

The winner will move on to face the winner of the No. 3 Cal State Northridge/No. 6 Brigham Young match-up. The higher remaining seed will host the semifinals match next Thursday.

One Comment

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    JR Salazar

    This has been a long season for 49er men’s volleyball. Today’s performance against the Waves just epitomized how crap this year has been.

    Whoever’s gonna be out interim…you got work to do. Get it done. Chop chop.

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