Photo credit: John Fajardo
Top-ranked Long Beach State showed its grit on Saturday night as the Beach won the inaugural Big West Championship with a convincing 3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-19) sweep of No. 6 Hawai‘i inside the Walter Pyramid to officially punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the third-straight year.
The trip to the NCAA Tournament will be Long Beach State’s fifth appearance under head coach Alan Knipe and 10th overall.
With the victory, Long Beach State improved to 26-1 on the year and recorded its second undefeated season at home with a 12-0 mark inside the Pyramid.
Long Beach State was led by junior setter Josh Tuaniga as he guided the Beach to a .369 attack percentage in the match and distributed 32 assists. For his efforts, Tuaniga was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
Tuaniga’s solid passing led to another efficient offensive performance for the Beach. The duo of TJ DeFalco and Kyle Ensing combined for 16 kills as each had eight on the night. Senior outside hitter Bjarne Huus turned in another stout performance as he knocked down seven kills on 12 attempts without committing an error to hit .583.
Adding to Long Beach State’s offensive attack were Nick Amado (6 kills) and Simon Anderson (4 kills). The middle blockers were also solid at the net combining for 10 blocks as Amado tallied seven and Anderson added three. Ensing was also a force at the net as he posted a season-high six blocks to help lead LBSU to 10.5 total team blocks.
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LONG BEACH STATE PRESS CONFERENCE
HAWAI‘I PRESS CONFERENCE