From Reports By Long Beach State Sports Information Department

Dean Bittner had 25 kills to lead No. 7 Long Beach State to a 30-23, 31-29, 30-28 MPSF conference win over No. 9 Hawaii on Thursday in the ‘Myd.

Bittner finished with a .561 hitting percentage to help LBSU (6-5, 5-3 MPSF) to its second straight win. Mike Klipsch added 43 assists and Dustin Watten chipped in 12 digs for the 49ers. Bittner is the national leader in kills per game, while Klipsch leads the country in assists per game.

Long Beach State won game one hitting .414 as a team, while Hawaii struggled hitting just .061. Tommy Pestolesi led The Beach with five kills (.429), while Josh Riley added four kills (.500). Bittner hit .400 in the set, while Dan Alexander hit .400.

LBSU trailed early by as many as two, but rallied to build a 13-9 lead. The Warriors tied it at 18, but the 49ers took control scoring 12 of the next 17 points to win the game.

UH (3-7, 2-5 MPSF) jumped ahead early in the second set taking an 8-4 lead, but The Beach scored the next three points to cut it to one.

The Warriors pushed the lead back to five, 13-8, on a pair of blocks before Bittner stopped the run with a kill. Hawaii extended the lead back to five at 18-13 before Josh Riley stopped yet another Warrior run with a kill.

Long Beach State came storming back scoring six of the next eight points to cut the lead to 20-19. Hawaii answered with the next two points to stretch the lead to 22-19 forcing a LBSU timeout.

The Beach fought its way back behind Bittner finally tying the score at 27 on Bittner’s 12th kill of the set. Hawaii got the lead back on a service error by Kyle Friend but Riley tied it again at 28 with a kill.

Hawaii pushed it back to 29-28 with a block on Bittner after a long rally to set up set point, but Bittner evened it at 29 with a kill off the block.

Bittner then gave the 49ers their first lead of the set and a set point with another kill off the block. The Beach capped the come-from-behind run on a kill by Riley after a long rally to take a 2-0 lead.

Bittner finished the second set with 14 kills and a .600 hitting percentage, while Riley had five kills. Klipsch added 20 assists in the set.

The third set was close early but Long Beach State eventually took control and went on to clinch the match. The Beach hit .351 in the third set, while Hawaii had a match-best .344.

Bittner led the 49ers with eight kills and a .533 hitting percentage, while Friend hit .429 with four kills.