April 12, 2008

Final Stats

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - Cody Loe knocked down a team-high 11 kills but third-ranked Cal State Northridge came up just short in its bid for a share of the 2008 MPSF regular season title as the Matadors fell to fourth-ranked Long Beach State 32-30, 30-27, 30-26 on Saturday in front of 1,481 at The Matadome.

With the win, the 49ers improve to 23-5 overall and 18-4 in the MPSF which makes Long Beach State the top seed in the MPSF Tournament based on the tiebreaker with BYU. The Matadors, at 22-6 overall and 17-5 in conference play, fall one win short of sharing the conference title.

22 regular season wins for Northridge is a school record as the Matadors will open up the MPSF Tournament as the third seed and will host the sixth seeded Stanford Cardinal in a Quarterfinal match next Saturday, Apr. 19.

On Saturday in front of the eighth-biggest crowd in Northridge volleyball history, the Matadors received 11 kills from Loe (.350) and 10 from Eric Vance. However, Vance, Northridge's leading hitter, was limited to a .143 hitting clip but did add one ace and five digs. Isaac Kneubuhl, who was honored prior to the match along with Travis Bluemling as part of senior night festivities, chipped in nine kills (.467) as did sophomore Kevin McKniff (.500).

For Long Beach, Dean Bittner tallied a match-high 22 kills while hitting an impressive .645. Paul Lotman also reached double figures in kills with 10 kills but hit just .034. Dan Alexander added seven kills and a match-high four blocks while libero Dustin Watten recorded 10 digs in the win.

The Matadors, who hit .300 (44-17-90) for the match, tailed off in their hitting percentage in each game. Northridge hit .483 in game one, .290 in game two and .133 in game three. Long Beach out-aced the Matadors 8-2 and Northridge committed 17 service errors.

After battling from behind for nearly half of the first game, the Matadors used a Josh Riley service error and a block from Kneubuhl and McKniff to take their first lead at 15-14. The Matadors held on to the lead until the 49ers battled back from two points down to knot the score 24-24 after Bittner and Alexander teamed up to block Vance. A Mike Gaudino hitting error gave Long Beach a 25-24 lead forcing a Matador timeout. Northridge reclaimed the lead at 26-25 following the timeout after a Loe kill and a Lotman hitting error.

The Matadors continued to lead and eventually had game point at 29-27 but Loe served into the net and Mike Klipsch's solo block evened the frame at 29-29. After a Kneubuhl kill, the Matadors had another chance at game one, but Lotman answered to even the score 30-30. A timely service ace from Fletcher Anderson and a net error called on McKniff gave Long Beach game one 32-30.

The 49ers led from start to finish in game two despite the Matadors tying the score four times. With the score tied 9-9, Long Beach put together a 3-0 run to open up a 12-9 cushion. After Northridge cut the lead to 13-11 on a McKniff kill, the 49ers built their lead back to six (20-14) after blocking Vance. After going down 23-16, the Matadors had one more run left rolling off five straight points to pull within two at 23-21. But two was as close as Northridge would get down the stretch and a Lotman kill ended the frame in Long Beach's favor 30-27.

The Matadors looked to have control of game three after McKniff and Gaudino teamed up to block Lotman giving Northridge an 18-12 lead. But Long Beach scored eight of the next 10 points to even things at 20-20 on a Bittner kill. The Matadors held their last lead at 26-25 after Lotman's attack went long and Long Beach claimed the final five points to end the game 30-26 and the match 3-0.

- GO MATADORS -