Jan. 23, 2012

Cal Baptist (1-3) at
Long Beach State (2-4)
Date: Wednesday, Jan. 25
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Walter Pyramid
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LONG BEACH - The 11th-ranked Long Beach State men's volleyball team will take a break from Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play this week as it hosts Cal Baptist in its home opener on Wednesday, Jan. 25. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.

LISTEN UP
This week's men's volleyball match against Cal Baptist will be broadcast live via Stretch Internet Radio on longbeachstate.com. Sean Pellerin is the 49ers' play-by-play announcer.

IN THE POLLS
Long Beach State dropped three spots to No. 11 in the AVCA Division I-II Poll released Jan. 23. BYU topped the list with 253 points and was followed by UC Irvine (234), UCLA (225) and Stanford (194).

A GLANCE AT CAL BAPTIST
Cal Baptist (1-3) picked up its first win of the season last Friday when it defeated Grand Canyon, 3-1. Kristopher Johnson and Aaron McCalmont lead the Lancers with 3.08 and 2.92 kills per set, respectively. McCalmont is also averaging a team-best 2.69 digs per set.

Cal Baptist is in the process of transitioning from the NAIA to NCAA Division II. The Lancers won eight national championships, including back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011, as an NAIA member.

SERIES RECORD
Long Beach State leads in its all-time series with Cal Baptist, 8-1. The 49ers swept the Lancers in the most recent meeting at the Walter Pyramid on Feb. 18, 2010. LBSU's only loss in the series came earlier in 2010 at the UCSB Invitational when Cal Baptist prevailed in five sets (Jan. 7).

CRABB ATTACK
Sophomore Taylor Crabb has reached double-figure kills in five of the 49ers' six matches, including the last four. He had a season-high 17 kills against Ohio State in the third-place match of the UCSB Invitational on Jan. 7. The Honolulu, Hawaii, native also registered his sixth career double-double at Pepperdine with 15 kills and 14 digs. In MPSF play, Crabb is averaging a team-best 3.08 kills and 2.33 digs per set.

MAKE THAT TWO
Senior Brad Hemmerling has notched a team-best two double-doubles this season. His first came against UC Irvine (Jan. 6) when he finished with 12 kills and a career-high 12 digs. Hemmerling also tallied 11 kills and 11 digs at Cal State Northridge on Jan. 20. On the season, the Yorba Linda native is averaging 2.33 kills and 1.56 digs per set.

ORNEE STEPS UP
Sophomore Jeff Ornee has stepped into a starting role at middle blocker and has been a consistent force for LBSU, averaging 1.52 kills and 0.74 blocks per set. Ornee had a career-high 14 kills, while committing no errors on 18 attempts against Loyola-Chicago (Jan. 6), and finished with nine kills and hit .667 at Pepperdine on Jan. 14. The Cypress, Calif., native has also led the 49ers in blocking in three matches.

BAUGHMAN GOES FOR TWENTY
Senior Jim Baughman (Valencia, Calif.) registered his eighth career 20-plus kill match in a five-set win over then No. 8 Ohio State. Baughman pounded down 20 kills and committed just five errors on 32 attempts for a .469 hitting percentage. Baughman is currently tops on the team with 3.04 kills per set.

MIXING IT UP
After using the same starting lineup in the first four matches of the season, the 49ers mixed it up at Pepperdine (Jan. 14) with senior Srdjan Nadazdin and freshman John La Rusch both earning their first starts of the year. Nadazdin finished with 10 kills and nine digs at outside hitter, while La Rusch compiled 12 kills, five digs and hit .409 (12-3-22) at opposite.

UP NEXT
Long Beach State will host Princeton in non-conference action on Tuesday, Jan. 31, before it welcomes Cal State Northridge to the Walter Pyramid for its MPSF home opener on Friday, Feb. 3. Both matches will start at 7 p.m.