Men's Sports, Men's Volleyball, Sports

LBSU looks to upset No. 1 BYU in NCAA Tournament semifinal

The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team is two wins away from claiming its first National Championship since 1991, but the 49ers will need to move past No. 1 BYU on Thursday first.

The 49ers (25-7, 17-5) take on the Cougars (26-3, 19-3) in the NCAA Tournament semifinals in Rec Hall at Penn State for a chance to face UCLA or Ohio State in the championship game. It’s LBSU’s first appearance in the final four since 2008.

LBSU and BYU split a two-game series earlier in the season on Jan. 22 and 23. The Cougars took the first match 3-1, but the 49ers came back the next day to hand BYU one of its three losses this season.

The 49ers held BYU to a .182 hitting percentage and not a single player on the Cougars’ roster, including first-team All-American opposite Ben Patch, had double digit kills.

“There are a few changes here and there, but there’s not a whole lot of difference [at BYU],” LBSU head coach Alan Knipe said in a press conference on Wednesday. “What it is, like anybody, they’ve individually and collectively gotten better. Their execution has gotten better throughout the season. I’d like to believe the Long Beach State side of the net is the same.”

Patch led BYU all season with 4.41 kills per set and a .389 hitting percentage. The 6-foot-9 sophomore will likely be the focal point of the Cougar offense, but Knipe said shutting down Patch for a second time this season is a tall order.

“Ben is a really good player, he’s had a great year, but like you’ll hear any coach in any sport talk about, it’s really hard to completely shut down a great player,” Knipe said. “It’s important for us to have the mindset that we would like to take some things away that are comfortable for him, and stress him a little bit.”

The Cougars are riding a nine-game winning streak that includes a victory in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament final over No. 2 UCLA on April 23. Senior middle blocker Taylor Gregory said if the 49ers are to snap that streak, LBSU will need to worry about its own side of the net come Thursday.

“I think we’re more focused on us and how we handle how we play,” Gregory said. “We dig the ball a lot as a team and I just think we need to get back there and dig a few balls. Andrew Sato has been doing a great job of that, Kyle [Ensing] has been doing a great job of that, as well as everyone who has been playing in the back row. If we can dig the ball, I think that will give us a chance.”

The 49ers are 3-0 at Rec Hall this season, picking up a 3-0 win against Mount Olive University on March 4, a 3-1 win against hosts Penn State on March 5 and a 3-0 win over Erskine College in the play-in match Tuesday.

“[Having played in Rec Hall] will help us to calm down and to realize we’ve been here before in this gym and played matches against good teams,” said freshman outside hitter T.J. DeFalco. “It’s just going to be another volleyball game.”

LBSU is coming off hitting a season-best .528 hitting percentage against Erskine on Tuesday and look to repeat that performance against the Cougars.

The 49ers take on BYU inside Rec Hall on Thursday at 3 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time for a pass to the NCAA Tournament final.

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