Men's Sports, Men's Volleyball, Sports

Men’s volleyball team secures 7th seed in MPSF

During the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team’s last week playing in the Walter Pyramid this season, it dominated No. 15 Cal State Northridge on both Thursday and Saturday nights to earn the No. 7 seed in the quarterfinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.

Although there was a slight chance of not making it into the tournament prior to last weekend, head coach Alan Knipe believed it was inevitable for his team to succeed into the postseason.

“I don’t think the team was ever in a situation where we were concerned that we wouldn’t get in [the tournament].” said Knipe. “We certainly felt that we have done well enough throughout the season to be able to secure a spot in the tournament.”

LBSU (18-9, 15-9 MPSF) faced the Matadors for the first time all season during its last home game on senior night and swept them with a quick run, ending with scores of 25-18, 25-22 and 25-19.

The Matadors (10-17, 9-15 MPSF) had only one player, Sam Holt, register double-digit kills with 13, while Taylor Crabb and sophomore Cody Martin combined for 31 kills.

The only time LBSU fell behind was during the first few points of the third set.

The 49ers gave an even more impressive show the second night, as they swept CSUN at the Matadome with scores of 25-18, 25-17 and 25-17. Crabb had 13 kills and committed only one error to hit a .750. Martin followed Crabb’s footsteps with 10 kills and one error for a .474 clip.

No Matador was able to obtain double-digit kills as Jakub Ciesla led his team with nine kills. The 49ers also out-blocked the Matadors 10.0 to 2.0 and out-dug them 21 to 8.

Although they trailed the beginning of the first two sets, they were able to force errors from the Matadors and finish strong, leading by as many as eight points.

The 49ers will face No. 2 Pepperdine on Saturday in Malibu at 7 p.m.

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