Long Beach State men’s volleyball punched their ticket to the tournament for the 14th time in program history and are the No. 2 seed as the stage is set for a matchup with No. 7 Belmont Abbey at 5 p.m. on Tuesday at the Walter Pyramid.
Teams across the nation come to the Walter Pyramid to converge on this battleground of spikes and digs such as UCLA, Fort Valley St., UC Irvine, Penn St., Ohio St. and Grand Canyon University.
LBSU, one of the current powerhouses in men’s collegiate volleyball, stands at the forefront of the competition.
“I’m really proud of [this] group…it’s a special group to me not only because we are playing back the championship or at the Pyramid,” head coach Alan Knipe said in a press conference. “This group has done a tremendous job since they’ve been here.”
The Big West Champions accrued a 15-2 record against nationally ranked opponents and after their first loss to UCLA, The Beach went on a 16-1 run and finished their season with a 25-2 record.
LBSU has reached a 20-plus win season 23 times in program history, however, they are 14-10 in the NCAA Tournament and have only reached the peak of the volleyball world three times, in 1991, 2018 and 2019.
Senior libero Mason Briggs and senior setter Aidan Knipe were named to the 2024 All-American Teams, alongside four other Long Beach State teammates.
Briggs has been one of the nation’s top liberos since he arrived on campus, recording 902 digs which is good for the second most digs in LBSU history.
“A lot of things went this group together but adding this (playing at the Pyramid)..we wanted to compete back home,” Briggs said in a press conference.
Knipe surpassed 3,000 career assists during the final match of the regular season against UC Irvine. His career number of 3,085 puts his name among eight all-time in assists with LBSU legends like Tyler Hildebrand (6,651) and Josh Tuaniga (4,607).
Belmont Abbey stands in The Beach’s way to the second round, a capable opponent who looks to upset Long Beach State on their home court.
The Crusaders bring a flair and competitive edge to the tournament with a record of 21-4. Belmont Abbey won both the Conference Carolinas regular season and tournament titles.
Key players for the Crusaders are freshman outside hitter Zach Puentes and freshman setter Joseph Morris.
Puentes leads the team with at least three kills per set on a .258 attack percentage and Morris has a team-leading 9.52 assists per set.
“We’re just going to try to stay aggressive, we are a small Division II school that a lot of people said we shouldn’t be here,” Puentes said in a press conference. “But I think we just have to go out there and show them.”
The Crusaders defeated North Greenville 3-1 to win their second Conference Carolinas Tournament Championship in the last four years and made their second NCAA Tournament in their program history.
The winner of this first-round matchup will face the winner of No. 3 GCU vs No. 6 Ohio State in the semi-finals on Thursday, May 2 at 6:30 p.m.