No. 2 Long Beach State Goes Head-to-Head With No. 7 UC Irvine in Black & Blue Rivalry

Friday, March 29

Irvine, Calif.

7:00 PM

Long Beach State University

UC Irvine

Photo by: Joseph Kling

No. 2 Long Beach State Goes Head-to-Head With No. 7 UC Irvine in Black & Blue Rivalry

3/28/2019 11:47:00 AM | Men's Volleyball

The Beach travel to Irvine on Friday, before hosting the Anteaters at the Pyramid on Saturday

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Match #21
#2 Long Beach State at #7 UC Irvine
Date: Friday, March 29
Time: 7:00 PM
Arena: Bren Events Center
Location: Irvine, Calif.
Live Stats: UCIrvineSports.com
Live Stream: Big West.TV
Twitter: @LBSUMVB
Instagram: @LBSUMVB

Match #22
#2 Long Beach State vs. #7 UC Irvine
Date: Saturday, March 30
Time: 7:00 PM
Arena: Walter Pyramid
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Live Stats: BeachLiveStats.com
Radio: 22 West Radio
Radio Talent: Matt Brown
Live Stream: Beach Vision

Complete LBSU Notes (PDF)

No. 2 Long Beach State Goes Head-to-Head With No. 7 UC Irvine in Black & Blue Rivalry
The No. 2 Long Beach State men's volleyball team resumes Big West Conference action this weekend against No. 7 UC Irvine in the Black and Blue Rivalry. The Beach will take on the Anteaters in Irvine on Friday, March 29 at the Bren Events Center at 7 p.m., before hosting UCI at the Walter Pyramid on Saturday, March 30 at 7 p.m.

Catch All The Action
Friday's road match at UC Irvine will be streamed on BigWest.TV. Fans can also follow the game via live stats.

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 home matches 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 slipped to No. 2 in the AVCA Division I-II Coaches Poll after dropping a 3-0 contest at USC last week. The loss marked the first setback for the Beach this season and snapped a 23-match winning streak that dated back to last season.

UC Irvine comes into the match against the Beach ranked No. 7 in the National Poll after having lost five of its last six matches.

About The Beach
• No. 2 Long Beach State owns a 19-1 record after suffering its first loss of the season last week at USC.
• The setback snapped a 23-match winning streak dating back to last season.
• LBSU has won a program-record 37 straight home matches dating back to March 26, 2016.
• The Beach offense is hitting .429 on the year, after setting a single-match program record with an attack percentage of .655 against No. 8 Stanford on March 8. LBSU's season clip of .429 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 (.403), Kyle Ensing (.362), and Louis Richard (.359). The trio are all ranked in the top 10 in the Big West and in the top 20 in the NCAA.
• Senior outside hitter TJ DeFalco became Long Beach State's all-time aces leader with an ace at UC Santa Barbara on March 15. DeFalco now has 161 aces in his career.
• Senior setter Josh Tuaniga reached a major milestone as he eclipsed the 4,000 assists plateau with 34 helpers against Stanford. He became just the fifth LBSU player to reach that mark. Tuaniga now has 4,180 assists in his collegiate career and is ranked fourth all-time at LBSU.
• 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 1,508 kills, while Ensing moved up to 13th in program history with 1,281 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 137 aces to average 2.14 per set which leads the nation.
• LBSU has three players ranked in the top 10 in service aces in the career record book. DeFalco leads the way with a program-record 161, while Ensing is tied for sixth with 119, and Tuaniga comes in eighth with 103.
• In addition to etching his name in the record book in kills and services aces, DeFalco moved into ninth place all-time with 704 career digs.

Scouting the Anteaters
No. 7 UC Irvine owns a record of 14-7 overall and is 2-2 in Big West Conference action. The Anteaters have struggled as of late dropping five of their last six matches.

Joel Schneidmiller leads the 'Eaters' offense with 3.64 kills per set, while adding 1.55 digs per set, 0.58 blocks per set, and 0.56 aces per set.

Dante Chakravorti is the team's setter as he averages 9.56 assists per set to contribute to UCI's .310 attack percentage.

Defensively UC Irvine is paced by David Parker's 2.34 digs per set and Scott Stadick's 1.25 blocks per set.

Series vs. UC Irvine
Long Beach State leads the all-time series against UC Irvine 47-24 and the Beach have won the last seven meetings. The Anteaters are looking for their first win over LBSU since defeating the Beach, 3-1, on April 3, 2015.

Home Sweet Home
After picking up a 3-0 victory over then-No. 4 UCLA at the Walter Pyramid on Feb. 16, Long Beach State won its 33rd-straight home contest to set a new program record. The Beach have now extended that winning streak to 37 after collecting a five-set win over No. 3 UC Santa Barbara on March 14. 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.

Record Setter
Senior TJ DeFalco became the new Long Beach State aces leader after recording career ace No. 159 at UC Santa Barbara on March 15. DeFalco's 159 career aces topped current assistant coach Scott Touzinsky's previous record of 158 - a record that stood for 15 years.DeFalco has now brought his career aces total up to 161.

Elite Company
Senior setter Josh Tuaniga joined an elite group when he surpassed the 4,000 career assist milestone 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 4,180 in his career as he moved into fourth all-time at Long Beach State.

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 against No. 8 Stanford on March 8. 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.

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 161 in his career as he is the program's all-time aces leader. Ensing, meanwhile, has amassed 119 in his career to tie for sixth all-time at LBSU. Not to be outdone by his teammates, Tuaniga has racked up 103 aces in his collegiate career to move into eighth in the Long Beach State annals. In Long Beach State program history, only eight players have tallied 100 or more aces in a career and three of them are on the current roster.

Movin' On Up
DeFalco and Ensing have also made their way into the LBSU career record book with 1,508 and 1,281 kills, respectively. DeFalco sits in ninth place all-time, while Ensing ranks 13th at Long Beach State.

Among The Best
TJ DeFalco has collected 97 digs this season to bring his career mark to 704 which ranks him ninth all-time at Long Beach State. DeFalco becomes just the third player in program history to appear in the LBSU career record book in kills, aces, and digs, joining all-time greats Brent Hilliard who ranks first with 3,034 kills, fifth with 121 aces, and seventh with 737 digs, and Jim Polster who ranks 11th with 1,360 kills, 10th with 91 aces, and 10th with 688 digs.

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 sixth in the conference. However, when playing against Big West teams, Amado's 1.53 blocks per set is second in the league, while Ensing's 1.20 average ranks third.

Tops in the Nation
Long Beach State leads the NCAA with 2.14 service aces per set after racking up 137 over 20 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 0.55 which is third in the Big West and sixth in the country, while Kyle Ensing is seventh in the NCAA with 0.54 aces per set, which is good for fourth in the league. Josh Tuaniga rounds out the bunch with 0.36 aces per set which puts him 10th in the Big West and 28th 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 .429 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 .403 is ninth in the country, while Kyle Ensing is hitting .362 which is good for 19th in the nation, and Louis Richard's .359 hitting percentage ranks him 20th in the NCAA.

Up Next
No. 2 Long Beach State continues Big West Conference action against UC San Diego. The Beach and the Tritons will play at the Walter Pyramid on Friday, April 5 at 7 p.m., before going head-to-head in San Diego on Saturday, April 6 at 7 p.m.