No. 1 Long Beach State set to Take on No. 3 UC Santa Barbara

Thursday, March 14

Long Beach, Calif.

7:00 PM

Long Beach State University

UC Santa Barbara

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Photo by: John Fajardo

No. 1 Long Beach State set to Take on No. 3 UC Santa Barbara

3/13/2019 3:26:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

The Beach and the Gaucho play Thursday at the 'Mid, before facing off in Santa Barbara on Friday

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Match #18
#1 Long Beach State vs. #3 UC Santa Barbara
Date: Thursday, March 14
Time: 7:00 PM
Arena: Walter Pyramid (4,200)
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Live Stats: BeachLiveStats.com
Radio: 22 West Radio
Radio Talent: Matt Brown & Bryan Fenley
Live Stream: Beach Vision

Match #19
#1 Long Beach State at #3 UC Santa Barbara
Date: Friday, March 15
Time: 7:00 PM
Arena: Rob Gym
Location: Santa Barbara, Calif.
Live Stats: UCSBGauchos.com
Live Stream: BigWest.TV
Twitter: @LBSUMVB
Instagram: @LBSUMVB

Complete LBSU Notes (PDF)

No. 1 Long Beach State set to Take on No. 3 UC Santa Barbara
The top-ranked Long Beach State men's volleyball team will go up against No. 3 UC Santa Barbara in a pair of Big West Conference matches this week. The Beach and the Gauchos will meet at the Walter Pyramid on Thursday, March 14 at 7 p.m., before squaring off at Rob Gym on Friday, March 15, at 7 p.m. The two teams bring extensive winning streaks into the Thursday night contest as LBSU is riding a 21-match winning streak dating back to last season, while UCSB has won their last 12 contests.

Catch All The Action
All Long Beach State men's volleyball home matches will be live streamed via Beach Vision. Fans can also tune into 22 West Radio to hear the match broadcasted by Matt Brown and Bryan Fenley.

Staying Social
Follow Long Beach State men's volleyball on Instagram and Twitter at @LBSUMVB. Be sure to "like" us on Facebook (Long Beach State Men's Volleyball).

You can also stay up-to-date on all things Long Beach State by following @LBSUAthletics. Be sure to "like" us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram at @LBSU.

And don't forget our hashtags #GoBeach and #LBNation.

In the Rankings
Long Beach State remains in the No. 1 spot in the AVCA Division I-II Poll after opening the season with 17-straight victories. The Beach have been ranked No. 1 since Jan. 15, 2018.

UC Santa Barbara moved into No. 3 after winning its 12th consecutive match last week with a sweep of Lindenwood.

About The Beach
• No. 1 Long Beach State owns a 17-0 record and has won a program-record 36 straight home matches dating back to March 26, 2016.
• The Beach have won 16 of their 17 matches in straight sets, with their only four-set match coming against USC in LBSU's home opener.
• The Beach offense is hitting .451 on the year, after setting a single-match program record with an attack percentage of .655 against No. 8 Stanford last week. LBSU's season clip of .451 is good for second in the nation as well as in the Big West.
• Key components to Long Beach State's hot hitting come in the form of TJ DeFalco (.438), Louis Richard (.420), and Kyle Ensing (.381). The trio are all ranked in the top 10 in the Big West and in the top 20 in the NCAA.
• Senior setter Josh Tuaniga reached a major milestone last week as he eclipsed the 4,000 assists plateau with 34 helpers against Stanford. He became just the fifth LBSU player to reach that mark and now has 4,048 in his career.
• TJ DeFalco tacked on two more aces last week against Stanford to bring his career total to 157. He is now just two aces away from becoming the LBSU all-time aces leader.
• Long Beach State has a pair of players who have amassed 1,000 career kills in TJ DeFalco and Kyle Ensing. DeFalco is ninth place all-time with 1,468 kills, while Ensing moved up to 13th in program history with 1,232 passing former LBSU standout Tom Hoff.
• The Beach have been dominant from the end line all season as they have racked up a total of 115 aces to average 2.21 per set which leads the nation.
• Dating back to April 20, 2018, Long Beach State is on an 21-match winning streak which is the third-longest in program history.

Scouting the Gauchos
No. 3 UC Santa Barbara brings a 12-match winning streak into the match against Long Beach State. The Gauchos are 15-3 overall and 2-0 in Big West action and their win streak is the longest such streak in school history since the rally scoing era. They have not lost a match since Jan. 16 when they dropped a three-set decision at then-No. 6 UCLA.

The No. 3 ranking for UCSB is the highest for the program since climbing to third in 2015.

UCSB is led offensively by senior outside hitter Corey Chavers who averages 3.66 kills per set on .331 hitting. Chavers also adds 1.06 digs per set, 0.52 blocks per set, and 0.49 aces per set.

Randy DeWeese and Casey McGarry are the Gauchos setters as DeWeese averages 6.02 assists per set, while McGarry adds 5.93. The pair also contribute 1.22 and 1.15 digs per set, respectively.

Defensively, UC Santa Barbara is paced by senior Hayden Boehle who has racked up 153 digs (2.25 per set) at libero.

At the net, Keenan Sanders has posted a team-leading 58 total blocks to lead the squad with 1.12 blocks per set.

Series vs. UC Santa Barbara
Long Beach State leads the all-time series against UC Santa Barbara as the Beach own a record of 52-40. LBSU has won the last six contests as UCSB is looking for its first win over the Beach since 2015 when the Gauchos picked up a 3-1 win in Long Beach.

Record Setters
After picking up a 3-0 victory over then-No. 4 UCLA at the Walter Pyramid, Long Beach State won its 33rd-straight home contest to set a new program record. The Beach have now extended that winning streak to 36 after collecting a pair of sweeps over No. 8 Stanford and Saint Francis (Pa.) las week. Long Beach State has not lost a match inside the Pyramid since March 26, 2016 when the Beach dropped a 3-0 decision to then-No. 2 UCLA.

Elite Company
Senior setter Josh Tuaniga joined an elite group when he surpassed the 4,000 career assist milestone last week against No. 8 Stanford. Tuaniga became just the fifth LBSU player to reach that mark as he joined some of the best setters in Beach history in Tyler Hildebrand (6,651), Jason Stimpfig (6,324), Chris Seiffert (6,099), and Connor Olbright (4,103). Tuaniga now has 4,048 in his career with nine matches left in the regular season.

Rewriting the Record Book
The 2019 Long Beach State squad rewrote the LBSU record book as the Beach set a new single-match record with an attack percentage of .655 last week against No. 8 Stanford. The clip bested the previous program record of .614 which LBSU set in 1983 against Stanford, before reaching it again 1996 at Purdue-Fort Wayne. The Beach hit a whopping .889 in the third set, knocking down 16 kills on 18 errorless swings. That mark ranks second in the LBSU single-match record book for set hitting percentage.

Record Watch
Senior TJ DeFalco is closing in on becoming Long Beach State's all-time aces leader. The outside hitter is just two service aces away from passing current assistant coach Scott Touzinsky. DeFalco tacked on two more aces for the Beach last week to bring his career total to 157.

Aces Wild
Seniors TJ DeFalco, Kyle Ensing and Josh Tuaniga have all etched their names into the Long Beach State Record Book in one statistical category - career service aces. DeFalco leads the way with 157 in his career to rank second all-time. Ensing, meanwhile, has amassed 29 aces on the year to bring his career total to 114 which is good for seventh all-time at LBSU. Not to be outdone by his teammates, Tuaniga has racked up 99 aces in his collegiate career to move into eighth in the Long Beach State annals.

Movin' On Up
DeFalco and Ensing have also made their way into the LBSU career record book with 1,468 and 1,232 kills, respectively. DeFalco sits in ninth place all-time, while Ensing moved into 13th place after with 17 kills last week.

Can You Dig It?
TJ DeFalco has collected 73 digs this season to bring his career mark to 680. He is just one dig shy of breaking onto the top 10 all-time at Long Beach State and tying LBSU standout Brett Schroeder's 681. DeFalco is currently second on the team, behind senior libero Jordan Molina, as DeFalco averages 1.40 digs per set, while Molina leads the squad with 1.90 digs per set which is good for fifth in the Big West.

Block Party
Senior middle blocker Nick Amado and senior opposite Kyle Ensing had themselves a block party at CSUN to start the month of March. Amado led the was with nine blocks to tie his career-best, while Ensing set a new career mark with eight blocks. The pair led the Beach to a team total of 12.5 in the match, a new season-high for the squad. On the year, Amado leads LBSU with 0.91 blocks per set to rank seventh in the conference. However, when playing against Big West teams, Amado's 2.17 blocks per set leads the league.

Tops in the Nation
Long Beach State leads the NCAA with 2.21 service aces per set after racking up 115 over 17 matches. The Beach boast a trio of players who rank in the top 30 in the nation in aces per set. TJ DeFalco leads the way with 0.60 which leads the Big West and is third in the country, while Kyle Ensing is seventh in the NCAA with 0.57 aces per set, which is good for fourth in the league. Josh Tuaniga rounds out the bunch with 0.37 aces per set which puts him ninth in the Big West and 30th in the nation.

Hitting the Spot
After leading the nation in hitting in each of the last two years, the Long Beach State offense picked up right where it left off. The Beach are hitting .451 on the year and are currently ranked second in both the NCAA and the Big West. LBSU has three players ranked in the top 20 in the nation. TJ DeFalco's attack percentage of .438 is seventh in the country, while Louis Richard is hitting .420 which is good for ninth in the nation, and Kyle Ensing's .381 hitting percentage ranks him 16th in the NCAA.

National Honors
Long Beach State senior setter Josh Tuaniga was named Sports Imports/AVCA Player of the Week after collecting 4,000 career assists and leading the Beach to a program-record attack percentage.
Tuaniga piloted the Beach to a pair of non-conference sweeps over No. 8 Stanford and Saint Francis (Pa.) as Long Beach State hit an impressive .556 over two matches.

The Beach rolled past the Cardinal on Friday with Tuaniga guiding the squad to a program-record .655 attack percentage, which ranks third in the NCAA record books. In that match, the 6-foot-3 setter became just the fifth player in LBSU program history to reach the 4,000-career assist milestone.

Tuaniga came back the next night and led LBSU to a .471 attack percentage over the Red Flash as the Beach improved to a perfect 17-0 on the season.

On the week, Tuaniga averaged 11.17 assists per set, while adding eight kills on nine swings, with just one error en route to hitting .778. He also contributed six digs and three blocks in a solid all-around effort.

Wall of Honor
The Long Beach State men's volleyball program will be inducting three new members to the Wall of Honor. The Class of 2018-19 consists of former players Paul Lotman, Matt Prosser, and Zach Small, who will be inducted on Monday, March 18 at the Wall of Honor dinner following the fifth annual Randy Sandefur Golf Tournament.

The major criteria for the Wall of Honor, as outlined by the committee are as follows: the player must have represented Long Beach State men's volleyball with unparalleled success or achievement and truly embodied the passion, commitment, and loyalty that encompass a 49er men's volleyball player.

The trio each left their mark on Long Beach State in their own way. Both on and off the court, these three individuals have demonstrated a commitment to the program that has far exceeded expectations and has helped the Beach rise to one of the premier volleyball programs in the country.

5th Annual Randy Sandefur Golf Tournament
The Long Beach State men's volleyball team hosts the fifth annual Randy Sandefur Golf Tournament on Monday, March 18 at El Dorado Park. Those wishing to golf alongside current and former LBSU men's volleyball players and coaches can register at: www.csulb.edu/athleticsevents. The tournament is $200 per golfer, $400 per foursome, and $50 for the Wall of Honor dinner only.

Up Next
Top-ranked Long Beach State deviates from Big West Conference action when it takes on No. 10 USC on Saturday, March 23 in a non-conference contest at USC's North Gym. First serve is set for 7 p.m.