The No. 3 Long Beach State men’s volleyball team trounced No. 6 Pepperdine in a straight sweep to advance to the semi-finals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament Saturday night at the Walter Pyramid.
The win for the 49ers (24-6) marks the 11th time in program history that the team has made it to the semi-final round and the first since 2013.
Junior libero Andrew Sato moved himself up a spot in the 49er record books with seven in the quarterfinal victory. He now sits at No. 7 with 707 digs.
LBSU head coach Alan Knipe said that his freshman did great things on the court Saturday and that they have grown tremendously throughout the season to get to this point in the year.
“I’m not sure they’re freshmen anymore,” Knipe said. “When they’ve played a whole season, I think they got over the freshman thing a long time ago and they realized they’re just playing volleyball.”
Freshman outside hitter T.J. DeFalco said that this week his team has been focusing more on communication with one another and that the win was all about shifting that momentum from practice into the game.
“The last week of practice we’ve been working on being external and talking and having a lot of energy,” DeFalco said.
Pepperdine jumped out to the early lead in the first set, but the 49ers fought back, capitalizing on the Waves’ errors to gain the lead at 21-20. A kill from junior middle blocker Amir Lugo-Rodriguez put the 49ers at set point before DeFalco and Lugo-Rodriguez ended the set 25-22 with a double block.
DeFalco ended the night tied for a team lead of 13 kills with fellow classmate and opposite hitter Kyle Ensing. DeFalco chipped in five blocks and five digs for the night.
The 49ers wasted no time jumping out to lead at the start of set two, going on a 6-0 run against the Waves. Pepperdine fought back late in the set, posting consecutive blocks and closing the lead to 19-17. With kills from both senior outside hitter Dan Glamack and DeFalco, the 49ers earned set point and closed out the game 25-22 with a solo block from DeFalco.
Pepperdine came back in the third set to keep the match close, with each team trading points back-and-forth and tying the score nine times. The 49ers gained the lead at 17-16 for the rest of the set on an Ensing kill and a kill from Glamack put away the set 25-22.
Pepperdine head coach Marv Dunphy said that “unfortunately” his team couldn’t keep up with the 49ers to close out the match. He stated that once in awhile it is necessary to give recognition to the other team for staying better longer, and he said he believes the freshmen on the 49ers have helped the team immensely.
“When it’s over, it’s over,” Dunphy said. “You give it your best and we weren’t good enough over time. I give those young guys for Long Beach all the credit in the world.”
The 49ers advanced to the semifinals and will take on the second-seeded UCLA Bruins on Thursday in Provo, Utah at 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.