Long Beach State rallied from a two game to one deficit Saturday night to beat UC Santa Barbara in five sets 30-28, 25-30, 25-30, 30-28, 15-10 and in the process salvage a split of their two matches at the Elephant Bar Restaurant Tournament. The Beach lost to California Baptist in five sets earlier in the day.

Senior Dean Bittner led the 49ers (1-1) with 22 kills and a .333 hitting percentage. Junior Antwain Aguillard added 15 kills while hitting .522. Tommy Pestolesi finished with a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs against UCSB. Kory Matsukado had a career-best 15 digs, while Mike Klipsch handed out 60 assists.

In the season opener, LBSU dropped a tight five-game match to California Baptist 31-29, 27-30, 28-30, 30-28, 15-13 to fall into the loser’s bracket. Bittner led the 49ers with 30 kills while hitting .320. Jim Baughman added 17 kills and Pestolesi had 10 kills.

The Beach committed 20 service errors and 14 hitting errors, while hitting .300 for the match. Levi Cabral led Cal Baptist with 37 kills and a .430 hitting percentage.

Long Beach State wraps up the tournament Friday against UC Irvine at 1:30 p.m. 

Reports From LBSU