MATCH #26
No. 2 Long Beach State (22-3) vs. Concordia (16-10)
Date: Friday, March 31
Time: 7 p.m.
Arena: Walter Pyramid (4,200)
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Live Stats: BeachLiveStats.com
Radio: KBeach.org
Radio Talent: Kesha Coffee
Webcast: LongBeachState.com
No. 2 Long Beach State Hosts Concordia in Non-Conference Contest
The No. 2 Long Beach State men’s volleyball team welcomes Concordia (Irvine) to the Walter Pyramid for a Friday evening non-conference match up. The Beach and the Eagles will go head-to-head on March 31 at 7 p.m. in the final non-league contest of the regular season.
About The Beach
• The Beach slid into the No. 2 spot in the AVCA National Rankings after splitting a pair of matches at No. 3 BYU last week. However, Long Beach State remains in first place in the MPSF standings as the Beach need just one more conference win (or a BYU league loss) to clinch the No. 1 seed and home court advantage in the MPSF Conference Tournament.
• Senior libero Andrew Sato continues his prowess in the backrow as he owns a total of 937 digs becoming just the 15th player in MPSF history to reach the 900 dig plateau. He is also Long Beach State’s all-time digs leader.
• Senior middle blocker Bryce Yould has been hot offensively as he owns a team-leading .510 attack percentage all the while upping his career hitting percentage to .447 to tie for second all-time at Long Beach State.
• Sophomore setter Josh Tuaniga has totaled 935 assists for an average of 11.40 to lead both the MPSF and the nation. Tuaniga has now accumulated a total of 2,299 assists in his career to move into ninth place in the Long Beach State career records.
• LBSU has three players currently leading the MPSF in their respective statistical categories. Sophomore setter Josh Tuaniga’s 11.40 assists per set and senior middle blocker Amir Lugo-Rodriguez’s 1.25 blocks per set lead not only the MPSF, but the nation. Senior libero Andrew Sato’s 2.52 digs average leads the conference and is eight in the country.
• The Beach lead the nation in three statistical categories. Long Beach State sets the standard in hitting percentage (.378), assists per set (12.72), and blocks per set (2.72).
• Long Beach State was chosen to finish third in the MPSF Preseason Coaches’ Poll with 103 total points. The Beach were picked to come in behind BYU (119 points), which garnered nine first-place votes, and UCLA (111 points), which tallied three first place votes.
In the Rankings
Long Beach State’s moved back into the No. 2 ranking in the AVCA Division I-II Men’s Volleyball Poll after splitting the series at No. 3 BYU last week.
Concordia (Irvine) is not ranked.
This season, Long Beach State will face 12 of the 15 ranked teams, while taking on the top three finishers from a year ago (Ohio State, BYU, UCLA) on the road.
Scouting The Eagles
Concordia (Irvine) brings a 17-10 overall record into the Walter Pyramid. The Eagles are coming off of a 3-0 sweep at Cal Lutheran on Wednesday night which snapped a three-match losing skid to UCSD (3-1), UCLA (3-2) and USC (3-0).
The Eagles are led offensively by Jonathon Predney who averages 3.37 kills per set on .280 hitting. Chandler Gibb is the team’s setter as he has amassed 844 assists to average 8.70 assists per set. On the defensive side of the ball, Jacob Weiser leads the squad with 2.28 digs per set, while Hunter Howell’s 102.5 total blocks average 1.06 blocks per set lead the Eagles at the net.
Series vs. Concordia (Irvine)
Long Beach State and Concordia will meet for the first time in program history. While Long Beach State is in its 48th year of volleyball, Concordia is just in its fifth.
Up Next
The Beach close out the regular season on Saturday, April 8 against CSUN at 7 p.m. inside the Walter Pyramid.
News courtesy of Long Beach State Athletics.
Leave a Reply