Long Beach State Captures 2009 Big West Title
In a winner take all match between UC Irvine and Long Beach State to close out the 2009 Big West season, the 49ers came out on top with a 3-2 victory. The win awarded LBSU its 10th Big West Championship and the league's NCAA automatic qualifier, sending the 49ers to their 23rd consecutive postseason appearance. Long Beach ends conference play with a 12-4 mark, while UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis are knotted in second with an 11-5 mark.
Big West Awarded Two Bids For NCAA Volleyball Tournament
The NCAA Division I Womens Volleyball Committee announced the 64-team field for the 2009 NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament and Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara each received an invitation to the postseason.
Winning its 10th Big West Conference championship this season awarded LBSU (22-8/12-4) the league's automatic qualifier to the 2009 NCAA Volleyball Tournament for its 23rd consecutive appearance, 24th overall. Only three other teams have participated in 23 or more straight NCAA tournaments - Stanford, Nebraska and Penn State.
The 49ers opened the 2009 NCAA Womens Volleyball Tournament traveling to Westwood, Calif., to face eighth-seeded UCLA (23-8) at Pauley Pavilion. The two teams met earlier this season at the Brea Embassy Suites Titan Classic in Fullerton, Calif., with the 49ers sweeping the Bruins.
The Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara received an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament after posting an overall mark of 22-7 and a Big West record of 11-5, tying for second place. The Gauchos drew West Coast Champion Saint Mary's (22-4) in first round action. The Gauchos and Gaels have only met two other times on the volleyball court with each team winning one contest.
LBSU, UCSB In The Postseason
Both Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara made a brief appearance in the NCAA Tournament after failing to advance to the second round. The 49ers were swept by host and No. 8 seed UCLA and the Gauchos allowed Saint Mary's to rally from a two-games-to-none deficit to take the match 3-2. The Gauchos were making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006 and their 27th overall, while LBSU made their 23rd consecutive postseason appearance, 24th overall.
Pestolesi, Saraceno Receive National Recognition
UC Irvine's Keri Pestolesi and UC Santa Barbara's Rebecca Saraceno both collected AVCA National Player of the Week honors during the 2009 season.
Pestolesi earned the first award of the year after guiding the UC Irvine Anteaters to a perfect 3-0 record at the Courtyard Marriott/Fairfield Invitational, which included an upset victory over No. 6 California. During the match versus the Golden Bears, Pestolesi put away 17 kills and picked up 10 digs for her 40th career double-double. She also totaled four block assists while adding a service ace. The outside hitter then totaled 23 kills, one shy of tying her career high, in a five-set win against the Huskies and also added 18 digs. She led all players with 21 digs against Nevada while recording 16 kills, hitting .308 (16-4-39). For her effort, Pestolesi was named the tournament's most valuable player.
Saraceno received the nod for the week ending Sept. 27. She opened the week with a 14-kill, 18-dig performance in the Gauchos 3-0 victory over Loyola Marymount. A few days later she began conference play with her second double-double of the week, tallying 12 kills and 11 digs in the sweep over UC Riverside.
Saraceno saved her best performance for last, notching a career-high 29 kills to lift UC Santa Barbara to a 3-2 win over then-No. 21 UC Irvine. Her 29 kills tied for third all-time in school history under the rally-scoring format. Saraceno also tallied nine kills in the match-changing third set and then six more in the decisive fifth set as UCSB made one of its best comebacks in school history.
Washington Records 1,000th Kill
In Long Beach State's final volleyball match of the regular season, Naomi Washington surpassed the 1,000-kill milestone. She concludes her career as a 49er with a total of 1,020 kills.
Titans Successful in 2009
The Titans upped their record to 18-12 after downing UNLV, 3-2, which tied the school record for wins in a season. Cal State Fullerton also concluded conference play with an 8-8 mark, the second most conference wins in school history.
Quick And To The Point
Long Beach State has seemed like a team on a mission this season, sweeping a league-high 14 opponents this year. UC Davis ranked second in the Big West Conference recording 12 three-set wins, followed by Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine each with 11 sweeps.
Better Than 50-50
The Big West Conference ends the year with six teams with an above .500 overall record - UC Santa Barbara (.733), UC Irvine (.733), Long Beach State (.710), UC Davis (.667), Pacific (.607) and Cal State Fullerton (.600). The last time that happened was in 2004 when six teams registered an above-.500 overall mark.
Quartet Of 20-Win Seasons
A 3-1 win over UC Davis on Nov. 13 handed UC Santa Barbara its first 20-win season since 2005. UC Santa Barbara's 10 conference victories are the most by the team since winning 12 league games in 2005, the last time UCSB captured the Big West crown.
Also capturing their 20th win of the season were the UC Irvine Anteaters, who tallied a 22-8 mark for the 2009 season. This marks their third 20-win season since competing in the Big West. The previous two years where the 20-win plateau was reached were 2007 (21-11) and 2003 (24-10).
UC Davis, who collected 16 total wins over the past two seasons combined, won its final contest of the 2009 season to improve to 20-10 to secure their first 20-win season since competing at the DI level in the Big West. Davis joined the league back in 2007, but were successful for many years at the DII level. The last time UCD showcased a 20-win season was back in 1996 when the Aggies boasted a 21-6 mark and advanced to the NCAA DII Tournament.
Long Beach State became the fourth team to eclipse and concludes the year with a 22-9 overall. The 2009 season is the 22nd 20-win season for the 49ers. This also marks the 16th time four or more teams have tallied 20-plus wins in the same year.
Pestolesi's Double-Doubles
In 30 matches this season, Kari Pestolesi recorded a league-high 22 double-doubles on the season. Her best outing of the year was a 22-kill, 20-dig performance against UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 23.
A Win For The Ages
Both Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State notched a 'W' against then-No. 7 UCLA at the Brea Embassy Suites Fullerton Classic (Sept. 18-19), an impressive feat for both teams. The Titans opened their home event with a 3-2 victory over the Bruins, marking their first win over a ranked team in program history and the first over UCLA in 14 matches dating back to 1980. With the momentum carrying over from the following night, the 49ers swept the Bruins for their first regular-season win over UCLA since the last time the teams met in 1996.
Also registering its first win over a Top 10 program this season is UC Irvine, who kicked off the 2009 with an upset win over No. 6 California at the Nevada Marriott Courtyard/Fairfield Invitational.
Crowning The Champion
Of the nine current members in the Big West, four of them have captured at least one Big West title - Cal Poly, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara and Pacific. Long Beach State leads the quartet with nine conference championships, followed by UC Santa Barbara and Pacific with five apiece. The Mustangs round out the field with three titles.
UCSBs Gregory Reaches 600-Win Milestone In Big West
Kathy Gregory, the only coach UC Santa Barbara has known, eclipsed the 600-win milestone early in the season. Since competing in the Big West Conference, she has posted a 606-265 overall record. Gregory has coached the Gauchos squad since 1975, but UC Santa Barbara has only been a member of the Big West Conference since 1984. The only other coach to reach the aforementioned milestone is current Long Beach State head coach Brian Gimmilaro, who currently has 669 wins.
Fullerton's Zimmerman Captures 100th Career Win
Current head coach Carolyn Zimmerman, the all-time winningest coach in Cal State Fullerton history, collected her 100th career win after the Titans swept Cal Poly Friday, Oct. 2. The win also marked the first time Cal State Fullerton defeated Cal Poly since 2004 and just the second time in their last 24 meetings. Currently in her eighth year at the helm of the Cal State Fullerton program, Zimmerman has guided the Titans to a .500-or-better overall record four of the last five seasons.
Trio Of Coaches Make Big West Debut In 2009
UC Irvine, UC Riverside and Pacific featured a new face at the helm of their respective programs. Three-time Olympian Paula Weishoff was named head coach of the UC Irvine women's volleyball program last December to succeed Charlie Brande, who retired after nine seasons as the Anteaters head coach. Weishoff served the past five seasons as head coach at Concordia University, Irvine.
UC Riverside hired Ron Larsen as the second head women's volleyball coach in the programs history. He joins the Highlanders after four years as the top assistant coach for the USA Men's National Volleyball Team.
David Johnson was named interim head coach of the Pacific women's program after former head coach Charlie Wade resigned from his position to take over Hawaii's men's program. Johnson has spent the last seven seasons as an assistant coach at Pacific.