 
Beach ends season with 3-1 quarterfinal loss at Pepperdine in MPSF Tournament
April 25, 2009
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Four Long Beach State players finished with double digit kills but it wasn't enough to overcome 24 service aces and a 13.5 block disadvantage in a 30-28, 30-25, 23-30, 30-27 loss to Pepperdine in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament quarterfinal action Saturday night. Dean Bittner had 30 kills to lead The Beach (14-14), while freshman Jim Baughman added a career-high 17 kills on 26 swings (.538). Dan Alexander hit .700 with 14 kills on 20 swings and Josh Riley chipped in 10 kills for LBSU. Alexander (6), Riley (6) and Bittner (5) combined for 17 of the 49ers' service errors. Dustin Watten wrapped up his career with 16 digs, the 43rd double-digit dig match of his career, while Mike Klipsch had 68 assists. MPSF Most Valuable Player Paul Carroll led Pepperdine (21-4) with 19 kills on 41 swings (.366). Pepperdine out-hit LBSU .330 to .297 and had 17.5 blocks compared to Long Beach State's four. The 49ers jumped out to an early 12-7 lead in the first set, but Pepperdine came racing back outscoring LBSU 11-4 at one point to take a three-point lead. The Beach battled back tying it at 27 but couldn't get over the top losing the set. Bittner led the 49ers with nine kills, while Carroll led the Waves with eight kills. Baughman added six kills for LBSU on 10 swings. The 49ers hit .351 as a team but Pepperdine countered hitting .407. Pepperdine controlled the second game after jumping out to a 9-3 lead. The Waves pushed the lead to as many as eight on two occasions before winning by five. LBSU struggled hitting just .195 in the set while Pepperdine continued its hot swinging hitting .333. Bittner led the 49ers with five kills in the set but also had four errors on 15 swings. Baughman continued his strong play with four kills on five swings.
LBSU rallied dominating the third set leading by as many as eight points 12 different times with the first one coming at 12-4 and the last at 26-18. Pepperdine made a run to cut the lead to four at 27-23, but Bittner was too much for the Waves to overcome with 12 kills in the set. The fourth and final set was close throughout. LBSU fell behind 13-10 but rallied to score the next four points to take the lead. The two teams swapped the lead seven times after that with LBSU's last lead coming at 21-19. The Waves answered with four straight points to reclaim the lead 23-21. The Beach managed to tie it three times, at 25, 26 and 27, but could never regain the lead before Pepperdine closed it out. |
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