Men's Sports, Men's Volleyball, Sports

LBSU to face CSUN in crucial series to end season

With one week left of regular season play, the No. 7 Long Beach State men’s volleyball team will face two must-win situations this week against Cal State Northridge in order to secure a spot in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.

With 13 teams in the conference, eight advance to the tournament while the top four seeds will get to host a quarterfinal match. The 49ers could still finish as high as the No. 3 seed with two victories and the right combination of losses by five other teams.

After losing five of their last six matches, the 49ers (16-9, 13-9 MPSF) dropped from second place in MPSF to being tied for sixth with Hawaii and UCLA. If LBSU splits or drops two, it would need Hawaii or UCLA to do the same.

As bleak as the end of the their season has become, head coach Alan Knipe still believes in his team’s potential to make the home stretch.

“The past few weeks have been disappointing and definitely could’ve been better,” said Knipe. “But I have faith in our team and believe in the way we teach and play volleyball here.”

LBSU will honor its six seniors — Dalton Ammerman, Taylor Crabb, Connor Olbright, Jeff Ornee, Ian Satterfield and McKay Smith — after its last regular season match in the Walter Pyramid on Thursday.

Crabb leads the nation in kills with 4.78 per set and ranks second in points with 5.29 per set. Olbright leads the country with 11.54 assists per set while sophomore Andrew Sato ranks fourth with 2.76 digs per set. Ammerman and Satterfield are behind Crabb with 216 kills each.

The last time the 49ers faced the Matadors in conference play a year ago, the 49ers swept them on senior night to proceed to quarterfinals, and hope to repeat the same success this week.

CSUN (10-15, 9-13 MPSF) had an effective week as it upset No. 5 UC Santa Barbara and No. 10 UCLA. The Matadors are led by Sam Holt with 299 kills and Greg Faulkner with 203 kills and 90 blocks.

The 49ers will host their last conference match tonight and Saturday at CSUN. Both matches will be against the Matadors at 7 p.m.

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