Long Beach State men's volleyball hosting UCLA

LONG BEACH >> After dropping to No. 4 in the AVCA rankings, Long Beach State men’s volleyball got back to wiing way by sweeping No. 7 UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday night at the Walter Pyramid, 25-15, 25-21, 25-19. This is the 17th 20-win season for the 49ers (20-4, 14-3 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) under head coach Alan Knipe.

Long Beach State is tied for first place in the MPSF with UCLA, BYU and Stanford, and will host No. 2 UCLA (19-3) at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Walter Pyramid. When these two teams met in late January at Pauley Pavilion, it was a big national showdown between No. 1 UCLA and No. 2 Long Beach State, and it lived up to its billing. The Bruins got the last two points and the win, prevailing 23-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-13. UCLA setter Micah Ma’a had 13 kills, 30 assists, and eight digs, while Jake Aitz had 17 kills and 13 digs. Long Beach State was led by T.J. DeFalco’s 21 kills and 14 digs, as well as 11 kills and 16 digs from Kyle Ensing.

This match features the United States’ two most recent Olympic men’s volleyball coaches against each other, as UCLA coach John Speraw has been coaching the men’s national team since 2013, while Knipe coached the USA in the 2012 Games.

Track & Field

Senior Willie Alexander and freshman Courtne’ Davis have been named the Big West Men’s Field and Women’s Track Athletes of the Week. Alexander broke a 20-year old school record in the long jump as he hit a personal-best 25 feet, 10 inches to win the event by over a foot at the USC Trojan Invitational. His mark is tops in NCAA Division I this season. Alexander is a two-time All-American in the long jump and was the national ruer-up in 2014. He is also an All-American in the triple jump and is coming off his first Big West Men’s Track Athlete of the Week.

Davis picked up her first career award after finishing second in the 100 at the USC Trojan Invitational. Davis clocked in at a season-best 11.72 seconds, which ranks first in the Big West, 11th in the West Region and 25th in the nation. Her time is also the fastest by a 49er since 2008 and puts her at No. 4 on the school’s all-time charts. The Riverside native capped off the weekend with top-10 performances in the 200 (24.72) and the 4x100 relay (46.57) at USC.

Long Beach State is back in action this weekend at the UC Riverside Spring Track Classic. Junior Riley Cooks and sophomore Herman Day sit in first place after day one of the heptathlon and decathlon at UCR.

Women’s Teis

Fresh off beating No. 46 Dartmouth on Tuesday, The 49ers (11-4, 4-0) had one of their best matches of the year on Wednesday to beat previously-ranked Hawaii, 4-0, in just two hours at Rhodes Teis Center. The three singles points were taken in just 65 minutes. Long Beach State visits Cal Poly on Friday and then No. 64 UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Sand Volleyball

A day after beating Nebraska, 4-1, the No. 6 49ers (3-6) are back on the campus sand courts today for two more matches against the Cal at 10 a.m. and Loyola Marymount at 2 p.m. Long Beach State beat the Lions twice last year and has never played Cal.

Advertisement

Women’s Golf

Long Beach State improved by 16-shots in the final round of the Briars Creek Invitational this week at The Golf Club at Briar’s Creek, finishing in 12th place. The 49ers, who recorded a three-round score of 24-over-par 888, moved up two spots up the standings. Senior All-American candidate Kassidy Teare fired a final round score of one-under 71 to tie for 13th with Texas Tech’s Gabby Barker, who is ranked the No. 2 in the country.

Baseball

The Dirtbags are at Cal State Fullerton for a three-game nonconference series. They played late last night and you can find the game report at http://www.presstelegram.com/topic/long-beach-state-sports

- JJ Fiddler contributed to this report