Men's volleyball has gone from the hunter to the hunted

A few weeks ago, the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team looked like the runaway train that couldn’t be slowed down. LBSU beat a CS Northridge team that had what it wanted — the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular season title.

The 49ers took that away from the Matadors.

The Beach, last weekend’s MPSF Tournament No. 1 seed and host, had it all — the fanfare, momentum and possibly the best lineup on paper. Any past memory of a letdown was swept under the rug, until one of those memories made its way out from under the rug.

Pepperdine wanted what the 49ers had, and the Waves took it from them.

LBSU, fortunately, didn’t lose an NCAA Tournament bid, but it lost its presence as a favorite. It belongs to Pepperdine, the MPSF Tournament champion and LBSU’s opponent in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Before the semifinal round, an LBSU student couldn’t walk far before being informed about the 49ers’ big match against the Waves. The glory of the 49ers was strong, one year removed from a losing season in 2007. Pandemonium filled the Walter Pyramid Thursday night and rose like a hot-air balloon.
An hour and a half later, confusion and shock filled the arena and deflated the 49er faithful. 32 service errors by LBSU and the eye-widening performance of Pepperdine outside hitter Paul Carroll (match-high 21 kills) swept away the 49ers and the “advantage” they seemed to have from the MPSF Tournament.

What differentiates the regular season and the postseason is the attention paid towards strengths and weaknesses. LBSU, according to Alan Knipe, is at its best when serving well. Serving and service aces have been a strong point for LBSU, especially early on in the season, but has also proved to be an Achilles’ heel, especially in the semifinal loss.

“During the season, we flat out won matches with our serve and had a number of matches where we finished with double-digit aces,” Knipe said. “This is the strength of our team, but it seemed to be contagious [Thursday night].”

LBSU, while having a 203-97 advantage over opponents in service aces this season, had a disadvantage in service errors, recording 124 more than its opponents (551-427). The 49ers have made 53 service errors in the last two losses.

LBSU, nonetheless, will have a chance to avenge its loss to the Waves in the four-team NCAA Tournament Thursday night at UC Irvine, but it won’t be the same. There’s no optimism. There’s no home-court advantage. LBSU faced the Waves three other times this season and were deemed the favorites to win in all of them. The 49ers are the underdogs this time but, as this season’s history as shown, that could be the better route for them.

LBSU has made any slump as temporary as possible this season and has bounced back with big victories. The 49ers are 4-1 in matches after a loss this season and put themselves into a tough position to win the regular season title after losing consecutive matches to fall into second place in the MPSF standings.

From there, The Beach had to play away from their home court just to get to this point. In fact, the last four victories got the 49ers into the NCAA Tournament. Playing in the toughest league in the nation is a challenge and a gift.

“When we have adversity,” said sophomore middle blocker Dan Alexander, “we come together and fight back the deficits.”

Well, Dan, this appears to be the biggest deficit your team faces this season. Much like Pepperdine’s run to the MPSF Tournament title, LBSU faces a similar road. The Waves have the advantage heading into Thursday and it’s up to the 49ers this time to upend them.