Men's volleyball

1 loss plus 1 win equals no playoffs

By Ron Ognar
Assistant Sports Editor

A three-game loss to No. 7 Long Beach State coupled with UC Santa Barbara's 3-1 defeat of Cal State Northridge on Tuesday means the No. 14 USC men's volleyball team will miss the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs for the third straight year.
The Trojans fell to the 49ers, 15-9, 15-12, 15-13, in 1:40. It was USC's eighth loss to the 49ers in the pair's last nine matches.
For the season, USC finishes at 11-15 overall and 7-12 in the MPSF, which is good enough for fourth place in the Pacific Division.
UC Santa Barbara defeated the Matadors, 15-7, 15-13, 13-15, 17-16, to earn a trip to the MPSF tournament for the fourth straight year.
Loyola Marymount received the second at-large berth to go to the playoffs for the first time since 1991.
In the Long Beach State match, the 49ers outhit USC with a .356 hitting percentage compared to USC's .207 mark. The teams both had 66 team-kills in the match.
The Trojans got off to a slow start, hitting .146 as a team in game one. Meanwhile, Long Beach State (21-6, 13-6) hit .389 in the first game.
Late in the match, USC evened things up and actually outhit the 49ers with a .216 percentage, compared to a .195 percentage for the 49ers, in game three. But USC's improved accuracy was not enough to pull out the game.
Gaby Amar and Scott Faber each had a match-high 17 kills for the 49ers. Amar hit .313 for the match and Faber hit .467. Jim Polster added 15 kills while hitting .276.
USC was led by senior middle blocker Szilard Kovacs, who had 16 kills and hit .444.
Freshman outside hitter Craig Dennis has 15 kills while hitting .172. Eli Fairfield, also a freshman outside hitter, added 14 kills and hit .237.
The 49ers outblocked the Trojans, 13-8, in the match. Amar had a match-high seven blocks.
USC did have a strong serving performance, serving nine aces and 16 errors on the night. Dennis served four aces and Fairfield had three.
Meanwhile, Long Beach State had five aces and 15 service errors.
With their victory, the 49ers wrapped up second place in the Pacific Division and earned the right to host No. 5 BYU in the first round of the MPSF tournament Saturday.