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Purdue Fort Wayne
Long Beach State
'Dons Fall to 49ers in Active Ankle Opener
3/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
March 14, 2009
Long Beach, CA - Despite taking a sizable lead in the first set, the IPFW Mastodons 9-6 fell to the 49ers of Long Beach State 9-8 Friday night 3-0 (30-21, 30-24, 30-21). It was the first match of the weekend for the `Dons as they compete in the Active Ankle Classic hosted by the Long Beach State 49ers.
Penn State and BYU are the other two teams in the weekend classic. Sophomore Ben Duckworth led IPFW with 11 kills (11-2-18) and hit .500. Junior Oliver Kook recorded 10 kills, as freshman Phil Peterson added nine.
IPFW got off the ground quickly with a 2-0 lead and capitalized on the early lead to pull ahead 9-4 forcing a LBSU to use its first timeout. The 49ers came right back however, tying the first set at 12-12. Long Beach took the lead for good at 15-14 in the first frame as Mastodon coach Arnie Ball burned a timeout at 16-14. IPFW came out and forfeited two more points forcing Ball to use IPFW's second timeout. The 49ers used 18 kills in the first set to IPFW's nine to take their biggest lead of the set at 28-18, as they rolled to the set one win 30-21.
The `Dons began the second set with a service error and held their only tie was at 1-1 after a kill from Kook. LBSU pulled ahead quickly beginning the set with a 10-5 lead, and IPFW never tied or led again. The 49ers took the second set 30-24 despite having more ball-handling errors and service errors.
Duckworth nailed the first kill of the third set, before LBSU's Jim Baughman returned the favor. Kook gave IPFW the lead again at 2-1. A 7-1 49er run gave LBSU a 12-6 lead. IPFW trailed by eight at 19-11 before going on a short run to cut the lead to six at 20-14. Long Beach's attacking was best in the third set as the 49ers hit 20 kills and hit .444 to pull away from the `Dons. IPFW made one final 3-0 run near the end of the set, but it was to late as the 49ers already led 28-21. Long Beach scored the match's final two points winning set three 30-21.
Long Beach State hit a combined .382 on the night as the 49ers' Dean Bittner attacked a match-high 13 kills. Dan Alexander hit 11 while Josh Riley hit 10. The 49ers' setter Mike Klipsch handed out 40 assists to IPFW's setter Dan Mader's 31.
IPFW returns to action Saturday, March 14, to take on BYU on the second day of the Active Ankle Classic tournament. No. 9 BYU defeated No. 4 Penn State in five games Friday night 3-2 (21-30, 30-27, 30-24, 28-30, 15-11).
~Dons~
