Long Beach Sets Sights on a Title

Scott Touzinsky witnessed an NCAA championship setting two years ago when the men’s volleyball tournament was at Long Beach State’s on-campus arena, the Pyramid.

After about 15 minutes, he got up from his seat and walked out.

“I couldn’t stand it,” the 49ers’ senior outside hitter said. “Every single minute I just thought about what I could do to get to that spot.”

What he must do is now clear:

Touzinsky and the 49ers, 27-6, will play Penn State tonight in a national semifinal at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu. The winner will play either Brigham Young or Lewis College for the championship on Saturday.

BYU is the favorite and, for Long Beach, also the target. The top-ranked Cougars have defeated the 49ers three times this season, all in hotly contested matches.

“We have to deal with Penn State first,” Long Beach setter Tyler Hildebrand said. “If we’re fortunate to beat Penn State, I’d much rather see BYU than Lewis in the finals.”

Long Beach essentially clinched its first Final Four bid in five years by defeating UCLA, 30-25, 30-27, 30-28, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation semifinal last week. The finalists in the nation’s most competitive conference both typically get berths in the four-team NCAA tournament. The other spots go to the champions of the Eastern and Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Assns.

Against UCLA, the 49ers hit .464 -- their third-highest percentage of the season -- and got double-digit kill totals from senior leaders Touzinsky, middle blocker David Lee and outside hitter Jeff Wootton.

“We knew that was the match we had to win,” Hildebrand said.

By making the NCAA tournament, members of Long Beach’s 2000 recruiting class, which was rated best in the nation, feel they have achieved their primary goal.

“This is what I’ve been waiting three years for,” said Touzinsky, a St. Louis native. “We had to do it this time.”

Alan Knipe, the 49ers’ fourth-year coach, said his seniors experienced growing pains as they struggled to replace key members of a 1999 squad that went 23-5 but was upset by Loyola Marymount in a MPSF first-round match.

Long Beach went 18-7 and earned a share of the MPSF title in 2001 before slipping to 13-18 in 2002 and 17-13 last season.

“What we had in the program wasn’t enough to take some of the leadership burden off of those guys while they were still developing,” Knipe said.

The difference-maker has been Hildebrand, an athletic 6-foot-4 sophomore who lettered in four sports at Phoenix’s Red Mountain High. Hildebrand said he considered playing basketball in college but figured he’d have a better shot of playing at the Division I level in volleyball.

As a freshman, he won a battle for the setter position with Beau Peters, who has since transferred to UCLA. He went on to break Chris Seiffert’s freshman assist record in becoming the MPSF’s top newcomer.

“Unbelievable,” Touzinsky said of Hildebrand. “I’ve never seen a kid his age that’s so competitive. He knows how to run an offense and he’s been playing volleyball for [only] four years.”

Knipe said Hildebrand deserves the accolades that are starting to pile up in his second year. Already on pace to break Jason Stimpfig’s career assist record, Hildebrand is expected to be chosen first-team All-American along with Touzinsky and Lee.

“One thing about Tyler is he has that ability to make his teammates better,” Knipe said. “Is it all Tyler? No, because these guys are veterans and there’s more to it than him. But he just has this confidence that the other guys pick up on.”

Playing in the national championship tournament brings back memories for the 35-year-old Knipe. In 1991, he was an All-American middle blocker on the only Long Beach State team to win a national title.

“Nothing would make me happier than to put another one of those banners up [in the Pyramid rafters],” he said. “We need another one that says ‘Men’s Volleyball’ on it.”

*

NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championships

at Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu

TONIGHT’S SEMIFINALS

* Penn State (23-6) vs. Long Beach State (27-6), 9 p.m.

* Brigham Young (27-4) vs. Lewis (19-13), 30 minutes after completion of first match.

SATURDAY’S CHAMPIONSHIP

* Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.

Note: ESPN2 will televise the first semifinal and championship match live. The second semifinal will be shown Friday on tape at 11 a.m. (all times Pacific).