49ers men's volleyball left out of Final Four

Long Beach State got its biggest win of the season when it needed it most on Thursday, but it wasn't enough to get the 49ers to the NCAA men's volleyball Final Four.

The 49ers outlasted UC Irvine in five tense sets in the MPSF semifinals Thursday to reach the title game against BYU. The No. 1-ranked Cougars edged the 49ers in three close sets Saturday to win the title and automatic bid to the Final Four.

On Sunday, the NCAA selection committee gave the lone at-large bid to UCI based on a 3-1 edge in matches against the 49ers. Head-to-head is the main factor in determining at-large advantages.

A case could be made for either team. The 49ers (24-8) and Anteaters (23-7) finished the season with almost identical records and were ranked second or third much of the season. The 49ers got the big tourney win but Irvine's three regular-season wins held sway.

"I knew we both had a good argument, so it wasn't a shock," 49ers head coach Alan Knipe said. "It is disappointing, moreso when we finished second in the conference (regular season), second in the tournament and second in the national rankings, and we can't get in.

"We also know that UC Irvine could have been in our situation and would have had just as much right to be disappointed."

The 49ers' tourney win came with Ian Satterfield at opposite hitter. The three losses to UCI came early in the season (two in January, one in early March) when Satterfield was recovering from an ankle sprain.

"I thought we played great all weekend," Knipe said.

"The Thursday match was intense and the BYU match came down the way we thought it would, very close. They made the key plays down the stretch in each match.

"We knew going in that head-to-head was going to count a lot with the at-large (berth). We were hoping that the win Thursday would get us some consideration for the way we finished the season."

BYU's 28-26, 25-22, 25-22 win Saturday night was closer than most sweeps would indicate. The 49ers held leads deep into all three sets - at 20-17 in the first, 17-15 in the second and 19-18 in the third. In each, BYU's Ben Patch had key kills and service aces down the stretch.

"We were down early in the first and had a few things go our way in the end, and we snuck away with a first-set win," BYU head coach Chris McGown said. "Same thing in the third, down a few and made a few plays."

The 49ers of 2013 made a huge leap from 2012 when they finished .500.

Knipe's return to the coaching sidelines after a three-year leave of absence to coach the U.S. Olympic men's team led to a sharp rise in playing efficiency despite a few new parts.

Taylor Crabb raised his game to All-American levels and Dalton Ammerman and Satterfield were consistent hitters on the pins.

The team loses just one starter from 2013, middle blocker Colton Echave, and have the steady Jeff Ornee ready to step in.

The at-large decision once again renews the long-held complaint that the NCAA needs to expand its postseason schedule. The MIVA and EIVA champions get automatic bids, leaving just two more spots. Even with the MPSF usually getting the at-large bid, a lot of quality teams in the West are denied a NCAA bid despite having superior records, higher rankings and better RPIs than the EIVA and MIVA champs.

Going to a six- or eight-team tournament would reward more teams. The teams ranked one to eight in the last AVCA poll were from the MPSF. Postseason cases could be made for the 49ers, UCLA (21-10) and the MIVA's Ball State, which went 20-5 before being upset in its tourney.

"There's no doubt about that, and a lot have brought it up and it's been tried and approved before but killed by the NCAA financial committee," Knipe said.

"How can we as a sport allow the four best teams in the country, wherever they play, to not be in the finals? This happens too often when a team with a chance to win the national title, not just worthy of a bid, is on the outside looking in."

The Final Four begins Thursday at UCLA, with No. 1 seed BYU (25-4) facing EIVA champ Penn State (23-7) and No. 2 seed UC Irvine facing MIVA champ Loyola-Chicago (22-9).