Men's Sports, Men's Volleyball, Sports

LBSU trumps Erskine College in NCAA Tournament play-in match

The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team continues its season after a sweeping 3-0 victory over Erskine College on Tuesday at Penn State to advance to the NCAA Tournament semifinals.

LBSU head coach Alan Knipe said he was pleased with how his team performed and that they are enthusiastic to play BYU in the next round.

“The guys are really excited about this win,” Knipe said. “We wanted to put ourselves into that final four situation and getting the bid and now the win for the play-in match allowed us to do that.”

The 49ers wasted no time in the match jumping out to a 13-5 lead before gaining set point on a kill from freshman opposite hitter Kyle Ensing. Senior middle blocker Taylor Gregory put the set away 25-14 with a shot off the Erskine block to put the 49ers on top of the Flying Fleet.

The Fleet kept the second set close, exchanging the lead back and forth with the 49ers. LBSU took the second set 27-25 after Erskine failed to send the ball over the net in three hits.

The third set started off close until the 49ers began to break away and take a 19-14 lead. A hitting error from Erskine would close out the match and advance the 49ers to the next round.

LBSU put down 45 kills with just seven errors for a .528 hitting percentage and held Erskine to a .183 hitting percentage on the match.

Knipe said that his team is ready to take on BYU in the semifinals. He said that, because they played early on in the season, both teams have grown and improved exponentially.

“We’re both different teams,” Knipe said. “We’re more seasoned after going through the whole year. We have a better feel for them now.”

The 49ers are slated to take on top-seeded BYU in the semifinals Thursday at 3 p.m. Pacific Standard Time at Penn State.

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