CHAMPIONSHIP RELEASE

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

UPDATED TOURNAMENT BRACKET

FIRST SERVE

It’s No. 1 Against No. 2 For The Trophy
The second annual Big West Men’s Volleyball Tournament culminates Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center with No. 1 seed Long Beach State taking on No. 2 seed and host Hawai‘i. This is the first time in school history that UH is hosting a title match.

It is a rematch of last year’s inaugural Big West Tournament in Long Beach, won in straight sets by the Beach.

Both teams engaged in a pair of epic battles at the Walter Pyramid last week. LBSU twice emerged victorious despite trailing 2-1 in both matches. The Beach handed UH its only two losses of the season and clinched the Big West regular season title in the process. Hawai‘i is No. 1 in the country and LBSU No. 2 according to the April 8 AVCA poll.

UH is 0-5 all-time in tournament championship matches, losing in the finals in 1995, 2001, 2002 and 2017 as a member of the MPSF, and 2018. LBSU is 2-5 in tourney finals. The Beach won in 2017 and 2018 – both times against UH – and lost in 1993, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2013.

First serve is set for 8 pm HT (11 pm PT). The match will be available on BigWest.TV on the mainland and via Spectrum Sports on the islands.

Perfect Prognosticators
The final 2019 regular season standings mirrored the preseason predictions of the six head coaches in their poll released on Dec. 28.

All six coaches correctly picked Long Beach State to win the title – with Hawai‘i, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, CSUN and UC San Diego following in succession.

A Season Of Streaks
Some impressive streaks this season have gone by the wayside and some are still current entering the league tourney.

• Hawai‘i is 15-0 inside the Stan Sheriff Center this season and has won 16 straight at home dating to last season.

• Long Beach State has won a school record 41 straight home matches dating back to March 26, 2016 – the second-longest in NCAA history – and behind only the record 83 UCLA won consecutively from 1975-82. LBSU is the host of this year’s NCAA Tournament.

• UH saw two outstanding streaks come to a halt recently. The ‘Bows started the season 25-0 – the 25-match win streak ranked sixth-longest in NCAA history – before losing to Long Beach State last week. UH saw its NCAA record 74-set win streak snapped on April 6 at home against No. 3 UC Santa Barbara.

• UCSB owned a school rally-scoring era record (since 2001) winning streak of 12 straight that lasted nearly two months. The win streak vaulted the Gauchos all the way up to No. 3 in the AVCA poll, the program’s highest ranking since 2015.

TOURNAMENT NOTES

NCAA Selection Show Announcement
The winner of tonight’s Big West Tournament championship match earns the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Selection Show is scheduled for Sunday, April 21 at 10 am PT/7 am HT on NCAA.com.

RPI Update
Entering the Big West Tournament, four conference teams occupied the top five spots in the April 14 NCAA Ratings Percentage Index. Long Beach State is No. 1, Hawai‘i No. 2, UC Santa Barbara No. 4 and UC Irvine No. 5. Pepperdine (No. 3) and USC (No. 6) are playing in the MPSF championship match on Saturday.

Shout Out At The Stan
Big West Tournament host Hawai‘i drew a crowd of 8,534 fans for Friday’s semifinal matches at the Stan Sheriff Center. A sellout crowd of 10,300 – the first in 22 years – watched the ‘Bows defeat UC Santa Barbara on Senior Night April 6. A similar turnout is expected for tonight’s championship match. Hawai‘i is the NCAA leader in attendance, both in terms of total attendance (73,062) and average attendance (4,871).

Terrific Trio
Long Beach State’s senior trio of Kyle Ensing, TJ DeFalco and Josh Tuaniga all have collected major hardware during their collegiate careers. Ensing joined the club on Monday when it was announced he had earned Big West Player of the Year honors. DeFalco claimed Big West Player of the Year recognition in 2018 and was the AVCA National Player of the Year in 2017. Tuaniga garnered AVCA National Player of the Year status in 2018. The trio has helped the Beach compile a cumulative record of 106-14 in three-plus seasons. In two seasons as a head coach in the Big West, LBSU’s Alan Knipe is 54-2 overall, including a 22-1 record against league opponents – counting regular season and tournaments.

National Rankings
Hawai‘i is the NCAA leader in four team statistical categories – hitting percentage (.445), kills per set (14.25), assists per set (13.34) and blocks per set (2.68). Individually, UH setter Joe Worsley is the national leader in assists per set (11.30) while middle blocker Patrick Gasman is tops in blocks per set (1.46). Rainbow Warrior hitters Stijn van Tilburg (.467) and Rado Parapunov (.450) and ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in hitting percentage, respectively. Long Beach State has owned the service line as the national leader in aces per set (1.97). The Beach have seniors TJ DeFalco (No. 4, 0.54 sapg) and Kyle Ensing (No. 6, 0.51 sapg) controlling that aspect of the game. Senior setter Josh Tuaniga is No. 3 nationally in assists per set (10.74).