University Southern California Trojans
USC
Long Beach St
Men's Volleyball Upsets Top-Ranked Long Beach State
April 15, 2000 | Men's Volleyball
April 15, 2000
LOS ANGELES --Brook Billings had 35 kills and 14 digs--both match highs--to lead the No. 2-ranked USC men's volleyball team to a 15-11, 13-15, 15-11, 15-4 upset over top-ranked Long Beach State in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Saturday (April 15) before 1,150 fans at the USC North Gym.
The win, in the regular season finale for both teams, gave the Trojans a share of the MPSF Pacific Division title with the 49ers as both teams ended up 16-3.
USC improved to 21-4 overall while avenging last month's 3-game loss at Long Beach State. The 49ers fell to 23-4.
Despite the loss, Long Beach State earned the No. 1 seed in the 8-team MPSF Championships which begin next Saturday (April 22) and will host Loyola Marymount. USC will be the tourney's No. 3 seed and will host Hawaii. Pepperdine, which captured the MPSF's Mountain Division with a 16-3 mark by winning at Loyola Marymount on Saturday, will be the No. 2 seed and will host Stanford. No. 4-seeded UCLA will host BYU.
Billings also had 9 blocks in the match. Teammate Eli Fairfield added 20 kills, 10 digs and a match-best 4 aces, while Trevor Julian had 16 kills as he hit .480, Beau Rawi had 11 kills with a match-high 10 blocks and Mark Dusharme had 11 kills (hitting .500) with 9 blocks.
For Long Beach State, David McKienzie had 25 kills and 12 digs, Dustin McCappin had 14 kills (hitting .444), Matt Prosser had 13 kills and 7 blocks and Jim Polster had 10 kills.
USC outhit the 49ers, .316 to .209, and served 9 aces.
LBSU led the first game 11-7 before USC ran off 8 unanswered points, the last 2 on a pair of Fairfield aces.
Troy then jumped out to an 11-6 lead in the second game before the 49ers responded with 6 unanswered points to go up 12-11. Although USC regained the lead at 13-12, LBSU then tallied the next 3 points, the last on a Trojan ballhandling error after USC staved off 10 game points.
In the third game, USC took a 9-8 lead on Polster's blocking error. He sprained his ankle on the play and sat out the rest of the match. Troy held on by scoring the game's last 3 points.
USC dominated the fourth game, jumping out to a 5-1 lead. After LBSU got within 6-4, the Trojans scored the game's final 9 points for the victory, with the decisive point coming on a block by Billings and Rawi.
