From LBSU Reports

When you are starting a long road trip, the last thing you want to do is start it on an emotional low.  Long Beach State didn’t get that memo.

The 49ers built a 2-0 lead but couldn’t close out Stanford as the Cardinal rallied for a 26-30, 24-30, 33-31, 31-29, 15-8 MPSF Conference win on Friday night.

The Beach (3-4, 2-3 MPSF) jumped out to the two-set lead after hitting .415 in the first set and .371 in the second set, but faded over the next three sets hitting .283, .205 and .111.

Dean Bittner led LBSU with a match-high 28 kills while hitting .282, while also finishing with seven blocks. Dan Alexander hit .517 with 18 kills and seven blocks, while Jim Baughman hit .412 with 10 kills and four blocks and Tommy Pestolesi had 16 kills for the 49ers. Mike Klipsch had 45 assists and Dustin Watten finished with a career-high 22 digs.

Stanford (6-3, 2-2 MPSF) hit .307 for the match, including .667 in the deciding set.