Reports From LBSU

With two weeks left in the regular season, the Long Beach State 49ers are facing a crucial week of play as they travel to UC Irvine on Wednesday and then face UCLA at home on Friday. The Beach is battling to qualify for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation postseason tournament. LBSU sits in eighth place heading into Wednesday’s match with the Anteaters and the top eight teams qualify for the postseason MPSF tournament.

Long Beach State leads UC Santa Barbara by half a game and UCI by one-game in the standings. Long Beach State is also one game behind UCLA for seventh place and two games behind USC for sixth place. Wins over both UCI and UCLA this week would give The Beach the tiebreaker with those teams thanks to wins against the Anteaters and Bruins earlier this season. LBSU lost its first match against USC and plays the Trojans again in the season finale on April 17. The 49ers split their season series with UCSB, but the Gauchos own the tiebreaker based on points won.

BITTNER NEEDS JUST SEVEN KILLS AT UCI TO BECOME THIRD LBSU PLAYER WITH 1,800 CAREER KILLS: Senior Dean Bittnercontinues reach milestones that very few Long Beach State players have accomplished. His next achievement should come Wednesday at UC Irvine where he needs just seven kills to become only the third 49er player ever to accumulate 1,800 career kills. The Lakewood, Calif., native enters the match with 1,793 kills and should join Brett Hilliard (1990-93) and Brett Winslow (1988-91) as the only players in school history to reach the 1,800 kill plateau. Bittner ranks in the top five in three all-time categories at Long Beach State.

BITTNER NEEDS 21 KILLS TO MOVE INTO SECOND ALL-TIME IN KILLS AT LBSU; ALSO RANKS THIRD IN MOST MATCHES WITH AT LEAST 20 KILLS AND FOURTH IN SERVICE ACES: Dean Bittner is closing in on second on the all-times kills list at Long Beach State. The senior opposite needs just 21 more kills to pass Brett Winslow (1988-91) for second in career kills at Long Beach State. Brent Hilliard (1990-93) is the all-time leader with 3,034 kills, over 1,200 more kills than Winslow. Bittner needs one more match with at least 20 kills to tie David McKienzie (1998-01) for second on the 20+ kills list. Hilliard is also the all-time leader on that list with 89 matches with 20-or-more kills.

Bittner also ranks fourth all-time in service aces at Long Beach State. He needs 14 more to pass Hilliard for third and 17 to pass Paul Lotman (2005-08) for second all-time. Scott Touzinsky (2001-04) is the all-time leader with 158 service aces.

BITTNER’S 38 KILLS AGAINST UC SANTA BARBARA MARKED SIXTH TIME IN CAREER, AND SECOND THIS SEASON, HE HAS HAD 30 OR MORE KILLS IN A MATCH: Despite Long Beach State’s loss to UC San Barbara on February 12, Dean Bittner had one of the best matches of his career. The senior finished with a season-high 38 kills and a .320 hitting percentage in leading the 49ers in a heart-breaking five-game loss. The 38 kills were the second-most in his four-year career, trailing only the 42 kills he had as a junior at BYU last year.

Earlier this season, Bittner had a 30-kill effort in the season opener against California Baptist. Bittner needs two more matches with 30 kills to tie Martin Wagner (94, 96) for the fifth most 30-kill matches in a career at Long Beach State.

BITTNER EARNS NATIONAL AND MPSF PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS: Dean Bittner was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Men’s Division I-II National Player of the Week on Jan. 25, as well as the MPSF Molten Co-Player of the Week, after leading the 49ers to a split of their matches. Bittner recorded back-to-back 20-kill outings, while only playing in six games. He started things off by notching 20 kills on .356 hitting with six digs, three blocks and an ace in the 49ers loss to top-ranked USC. He followed by hitting a blistering .833 – a career-high – while registering 20 kills, three digs, one block and one ace in LBSU’s sweep of then-No. 7 Pepperdine. For the week, Bittner averaged 6.66 kills, 1.50 digs and hit an efficient .522.

BITTNER’S FOURTH CAREER NATIONAL P.O.W. HONOR IS TIED FOR THE MOST IN LBSU HISTORY: Dean Bittner’s national player of the week honor was the fourth of his career, with two coming in 2008, one in 2009 and one this season. His four national honors are tied for the most in school history with David McKienzie who won two in 1999 and two in 2001. Tyler Hildebrand has three national weekly honors, while Tom Hoff, Duncan Budinger and Paul Lotman have two each.

PESTOLESI NAMED NATIONAL AND MPSF PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Tommy Pestolesi was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I-II Men’s National Player of the Week after igniting his team to a pair of key Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) triumphs Feb. 24 and Feb. 26. He also earned co-MPSF Player of the Week honors for his efforts. In the 49ers’ first match, a hard-fought 3-2 win over then-No. 11 UC Irvine, Pestolesi narrowly missed a double-double, smashing 24 kills (.488) while chipping in nine digs, one block and one ace. In LBSU’s next match, a 3-0 blanking of then-No. 3 UCLA, the senior came away with 15 kills, five digs and one block on .431 hitting. For the week, Pestolesi hit an efficient .431, while averaging 4.88 kills and 1.75 digs per game.

ALEXANDER MOVING UP CAREER CHARTS IN FOUR CATEGORIES: Dan Alexander is moving up the career charts in four separate career record lists–blocks, block assists, matches with at least 10 blocks, and service aces. Alexander moved into fifth all-time in blocks passing David Lee (2001-04) in the home win over Pacific. He now has 462 career blocks and needs 49 more to pass Matt Prosser(1998-01) for fourth. Alexander is just the eighth player in school history to record 400 blocks. He is currently fourth in block assists with 441 and needs two more to pass Robert Kutsch (1987-90) for third. He also has seven career matches with at least 10 blocks, which ranks fifth all-time. He needs one more to tie Matt Prosser (1998-01) for fourth on the list. Alexander is fifth all-time in service aces with 110. He is nine behind teammate Dean Bittner.

EATON MOVES INTO SEVENTH IN CAREER ASSISTS: Conor Eaton has returned to the starting lineup during most of his senior season and as a result is climbing the all-time assists list at LBSU. The Dana Point, Calif., product is seventh on the all-time list at LBSU with 2,390 assists and needs 15 more to pass Ryan Mennealy (1988-90) for sixth. Eaton started his freshman season and handed out 1,194 assists before combining for 127 assists as a sophomore and junior while backing up Mike Klipsch. This season, Eaton beat out Mike Klipsch to return to the starting lineup and has tallied 1,069 assists.

KLIPSCH GETS CAREER ASSIST NUMBER 3,000; SITS FIFTH IN CAREER ASSISTS AT LBSU: Junior Mike Klipsch is in the top five in career assists at Long Beach State. The junior from St. Louis, Mo., has 3,107 career assists and needs 20 assists to pass Steve Walker (1995-96) for fourth on the all-time list. Klipsch also became just the fifth LBSU player to ever record 3,000 assists. He has been second on the depth chart behind Conor Eaton at setter for most of the season, but started both matches and split time with Eaton against BYU last weekend.