<\/div>\nTied. Pepperdine by one. Tied. Pepperdine by one. Tied. Pepperdine by one. Tied. Pepperdine by one. Tied. Pepperdine by one. <\/p>\n
And so it went, on and on, then on and on again, for the duration of the marathon that was the third and final game of Pepperdine’s massive upset over Long Beach State in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs Thursday night. <\/p>\n
The heavily favored 49ers carried the swagger and the #1 seed, but the #5 Waves wielded the big stick and trampled their way to victory in the semifinal game, 30-27, 30-22, 43-41.<\/p>\n
Down two games to none and facing elimination, watching their chances at a conference championship dwindle and fade, the 49ers pushed the third game as far as they could before Dean Bittner’s kill attempt was blocked and Pepperdine danced in the Pyramid. The Waves will advance to the MPSF finals, where they will face the winner between BYU and CS Northridge for an automatic bid into the four-team NCAA Championships.<\/p>\n
The 49ers, on the other hand, look to be in good position to earn a berth despite Thursday’s upset loss. After ending the regular season as the nation’s #2 team, and with a strength of schedule unmatched, they will most likely be awarded the only at-large bid available to enter the field of four.<\/p>\n “We have the best case. I feel confident we’ll be playing in Irvine next weekend,” head coach Alan Knipe said of his team’s chances to receive an NCAA Championship invitation.<\/p>\n The 49ers wouldn’t be having to rely on an at-large bid had they performed as expected, beating Pepperdine and then winning Saturday’s game to earn an automatic bid. But uncharacteristically porous defense and plaguing service errors – 32 in three games – put Long Beach State behind early in the contest. It was strange to see the 49ers continuously put balls into the net on serves, something they have avoided all season.<\/p>\n “We missed a lot of serves tonight,” said Knipe. “It’s one of those tough things to explain because we led the conference in service aces.<\/p>\n Thursday, though, it would give the 49ers no such advantage.<\/p>\n ”We’re used to [our serving] causing problems for them,” said senior Paul Lotman, who notched 13 kills but 7 service errors. The star outside hitter moved into second place all-time on Long Beach’s service aces list this season and shattered the single season record, yet did not record one against Pepperdine. <\/p>\n “Tonight we caused our own problems,” he said.<\/p>\n![\"Photobucket\"](\"http:\/\/s66.photobucket.com\/albums\/h263\/Zoomy575M\/?action=view¤t=IMG_7039.jpg\")
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