No. 2 Long Beach State Set to Battle No. 3 Pepperdine in NCAA Semifinal Match

Thursday, May 2

Long Beach, Calif.

7:30 PM

Long Beach State University

Pepperdine

Photo by: John Fajardo

No. 2 Long Beach State Set to Battle No. 3 Pepperdine in NCAA Semifinal Match

5/1/2019 11:54:00 AM | Men's Volleyball

The Beach and the Waves go head-to-head on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Match #29
#2 Long Beach State vs. #3 Pepperdine

Date: Thursday, May 2
Time: 7:30 PM
Arena: Walter Pyramid
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Live Stats: BeachLiveStats.com
Live Stream: NCAA.com

Twitter: @LBSUMVB
Instagram: @LBSUMVB

2019 NCAA MEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
April 30 - May 4 @ Walter Pyramid

Tuesday, April 30 - Opening Round
No. 6 Lewis 3, No. 4 USC 1
No. 3 Pepperdine 3, No. 13 Princeton 2

Thursday, May 2 - Semifinals
No. 1 Hawaii vs. No. 6 Lewis - 5 p.m.
No. 2 Long Beach State vs. No. 3 Pepperdine - 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 4 - Championship
NCAA National Championship Match - 5 p.m.

Complete LBSU Match Notes (PDF)

No. 2 Long Beach State Set to Battle No. 3 Pepperdine in NCAA Semifinal Match
No. 2 Long Beach State and No. 3 Pepperdine will meet for the first time this season in the NCAA Men's Volleyball Final Four on Thursday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.

The Beach earned a bye into the NCAA Semifinals after finishing the regular season with a 26-2 overall record are the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament.

Pepperdine edged No. 13 Princeton in a five-set opening round match on Tuesday night to advance to the NCAA Semifinals as the Tigers improved to 23-6 on the year.

Catch All The Action
The NCAA Semifinal matches will be live streamed on NCAA.com.

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 finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the AVCA Division I-II Coaches Poll after posting a 26-2 overall record.

Pepperdine is ranked No. 3 as it moved up one spot after winning the MPSF Tournament. The Waves are 23-6 on the year.

About The Beach
• Long Beach State will make its fourth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance as the Beach head into the Final Four with a 26-2 overall record.
• The Beach finished league action with a perfect 10-0 record to win the Big West Regular Season Title.
• The 2019 Long Beach State men's volleyball team became the first squad in program history to go undefeated in conference play.
• LBSU is 12-0 when playing at the Walter Pyramid this season and has extended its home winning streak to a program-record 41 dating back to March 26, 2016.
• Long Beach State garnered four AVCA All-America selections as TJ DeFalco, Kyle Ensing, and Josh Tuaniga were named to the First Team, while Nick Amado was a Second Team honoree.
• Senior opposite Kyle Ensing was named Big West Player of the Year as he led a quintet of LBSU players who garnered All-Big West honors. Ensing was selected to the First Team along with seniors Nick Amado, TJ DeFalco, and Josh Tuaniga. Simon Andersen garnered an Honorable Mention selection.
• For the second time in as many years, Long Beach State head coach Alan Knipe was named Big West Coach of the Year.
• The Beach offense is hitting .411 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 .411 is good for second in both the nation and the Big West.
• Key components to Long Beach State's hot hitting come in the form of TJ DeFalco (.386), Kyle Ensing (.361), and Louis Richard (.308). The trio are all ranked in the top 10 in the Big West and in the top 40 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 178 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 4,522 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 seventh place all-time with 1,624 kills, while Ensing moved up to 11th in program history with 1,402.
• The Beach have been dominant from the end line all season as they have racked up a total of 186 aces to average 1.94 per set which leads the nation.
• LBSU has three players ranked in the top 10 in service aces in the Long Beach State career record book. DeFalco leads the way with a program-record 178, while Ensing is fourth with 134, and Tuaniga comes in eighth with 105.
• In addition to etching his name in the record book in kills and services aces, DeFalco is seventh all-time with 763 career digs.

Scouting the Waves
No. 3 Pepperdine enters the NCAA Final Four with a 23-6 overall record after defeating No. 13 Princeton in the NCAA Opening Round, 3-2, on Tuesday night.

The Waves punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament after winning the MPSF Tournament with a pair of sweeps over No. 12 BYU and No. 5 USC.

Pepperdine is led by All-Americans David Wieczorek, Kaleb Denmark, Robert Mullahey, and Michael Wexter. Wieczorek, Wexter and Denmark are the team's top scorers with 3.93, 3.48, and 2.85 kills per set, respectively.

Wieczorek, an AVCA First Team All-American, is hitting .380 on the year, while adding 1.28 digs per set and 0.56 blocks per set. Meanwhile, Wexter, an honorable mention selection, contributes an attack percentage of .347 to go along with a team-best 2.00 digs per set and 0.60 blocks per set. Denmark joined Wexter as an honorable mention honoree as he averages 1.50 digs per set, 0.42 blocks per set, while hitting .290.

Mullahey, who was also earned honorable mention status, is the squad's setter. His 10.38 assists per set have been a key component to the Waves' .345 team attack percentage.

Defensively, Kevin Vaz patrols the net with 106 total blocks to average 1.07 blocks per set.

Series vs. Pepperdine
Long Beach State and Pepperdine will meet for the first time this season as the two teams last played each other on Feb. 2, 2017. In that contest, LBSU defeated Pepperdine in straight sets. The Waves lead the all-time series 43-42, however, the Beach has won the last four meetings. Long Beach State and Pepperdine will meet for just the second time in the NCAA Tournament. In the only other postseason match up, the Waves defeated the Beach, 3-0, in the 2008 NCAA Semifinals.

The Beach in the NCAA Tournament
Long Beach State will make its 11th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its fourth-striaght showing. The reigning National Champions own a 10-8 record in the NCAA Tournament and have captured two National Titles (1991, 2018).

All-American Accolades
A quartet of Long Beach State men's volleyball players took home American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American honors on Monday morning in an announcement by the organization. The Beach garner three First Team All-Americans in TJ DeFalco, Kyle Ensing, and Josh Tuaniga, while Nick Amado earned All-Second Team honors.

The four All-American selections will receive their awards at the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship Banquet on Wednesday, May 1. Additionally, the AVCA National Player of the Year award will be announced at the banquet.

DeFalco, a senior outside hitter, is a four-time AVCA First Team All-American after having earned the honors in each of his four collegiate seasons. He is just the third player in Division I-II Men's Volleyball history to accomplish that feat joining Costas Theocharidis who played at Hawaii from 2000-03 and Erik Shoji who played at Stanford from 2009-12. This year, DeFalco heads into his fourth NCAA Tournament appearance averaging 3.43 kills per set to rank second on the team and 26th in the nation. The Beach's all-time aces leader has racked up 52 service aces this season and averages 0.54 per set which leads the Big West and is good for fourth in the country. The product out of Huntington Beach, Calif., boasts a .386 attack percentage which is tops on the team and 13th in the NCAA. DeFalco has accumulated 1,624 career kills in his four years at Long Beach State to rank seventh all-time.

Ensing, who was just named Big West Conference Player of the Year, garnered his second career AVCA First Team All-American honor and third All-American award overall. The senior opposite leads the Beach with 3.61 kills per set on a .361 attack percentage. Ensing's kills per set average ranks him in the top 20 in the country, while his hitting percentage is good for 18th. He has tallied 49 service aces this season to average 0.52 per set which ranks him third in the conference and sixth in the nation. The Valencia, Calif., native has racked up 1,402 kills in his collegiate career to place 11th all-time at the Beach.

Tuaniga, the 2018 AVCA National Player of the Year, picked up his third AVCA First Team All-American selection and fourth All-American honor overall after piloting the Long Beach State offense to a .411 attack percentage which ranks second in the nation. The senior setter has dished out 997 assists on the year for an average of 10.72 per set which ranks him second in the Big West and third in the country. Tuaniga has amassed a total of 4,522 assists in his collegiate career to rank fourth all-time at Long Beach State. He is just one of five setters at the Beach to reach the 4,000 career assist milestone. A native of Long Beach, Calif., Tuaniga adds 1.53 digs per set, 0.73 kills per set, 0.37 blocks per set, 0.26 aces per set, and owns a .667 (68-2-99) attack percentage.

Amado, a redshirt senior middle blocker, earned his second AVCA Second Team All-American honor after leading Long Beach State with 0.93 blocks per set. While Amado has been a force at the net all season, he has contributed on both sides of the ball adding 1.81 kills per set on a .534 hitting percentage (163-21-266). The product out of Aliso Niguel, Calif., has been a key component to the Beach's solid blocking defense which averages 1.94 blocks per set to rank 29th in the nation.

Big West Player of the Year
The Big West Conference announced the men's volleyball all-conference selections on Monday afternoon and senior opposite Kyle Ensing was named Big West Conference Player of the Year. In addition to being named Player of the Year, Ensing also earned All-Big West First Team accolades.

Ensing garnered Big West Conference Player of the Year honors and his second All-Big West First Team nod after turning in an outstanding senior campaign. The Valencia, Calif., native closed out the regular season with 304 kills, 104 digs, 55 total blocks, 45 service aces, and a .356 attack percentage. His aces per set average of 0.52 is good for seventh in the country, while his hitting percentage and kills per set average of 3.53 rank 19th in the NCAA. Ensing leads the team with 377.5 points for a 4.39 points per set mark which ranks 13th in the nation and fourth in the conference.

The 6-foot-7 opposite has racked up a team-leading 17 double-figure kills contests this season, while leading the Beach in kills on 14 occasions. Ensing has also led the team in digs on four occasions, and blocks three times.
A force on both sides of the ball, Ensing led Long Beach State to a five-set win over then-No. 3 UC Santa Barbara with a career-best 27 kills last month and posted a career-high eight blocks in the Beach's sweep of then-No. 11 CSUN to open league play earlier this season.

Ensing has also written himself into the Long Beach State record book as he has accumulated 1,363 career kills to rank 11th all-time. Meanwhile his 130 career aces tie him for fourth in LBSU men's volleyball program history.

Big West Coach of the Year
In addition to Ensing's Big West Player of the Year honor, Long Beach State head coach Alan Knipe was selected as the league's Coach of the Year for the second straight season.

Knipe, who is in his 16th year at the helm of the Long Beach State men's volleyball program, led the team to its second Big West Conference regular season title after the squad closed out the year with a perfect 10-0 conference record and a 25-1 overall mark.

Under Knipe's guidance, Long Beach State has won a program-record 41 consecutive home contests as the Beach have not dropped match inside the Walter Pyramid in more than three years. This season, Knipe has led the Beach to 12 victories over ranked opponents, including a 5-0 record against top-five ranked opponents.

Big West All-Conference Honors
Joining Ensing on the All-Big West First Team were seniors Nick Amado, TJ DeFalco, and Josh Tuaniga. Sophomore Simon Andersen rounded out the LBSU all-conference selections with an Honorable Mention nod.

Amado took home his second All-Big West First Team selection after leading the Beach with 0.96 blocks per set to rank fourth in the league and 26th in the nation. The 6-foot-6 middle blocker totaled 78 total blocks after tying his career-high with nine blocks against then No. 11 CSUN last month. In addition to his solid blocking defense, Amado has registered 1.83 kills per set on .527 hitting.

DeFalco claimed his second All-Big West First Team nod as the senior outside hitter concluded the regular season with 3.44 kills per set to rank second on the team and in the top 25 in the nation. His aces per set average of 0.53 leads the Beach and is fifth in the country, while his hitting percentage of .392 is good for third in the Big West and 12th in the NCAA.

Tuaniga joined Ensing, Amado and DeFalco on the All-Big West First Team for the second time in his career as the senior setter dished out 10.76 assists to lead the Beach offense to a .414 attack percentage which ranks second in the country. Tuaniga is hitting .674 on the year as he has knocked down 64 kills on 92 swings with just two errors. He has also added 1.60 digs per set, 0.37 blocks per set, and 0.27 aces per set.

Rounding out Long Beach State's All-Big West Conference selections is Andersen who earned Honorable Mention honors for the second time in his career. The 6-foot-8 middle blocker averaged 0.73 blocks per set to go along with 1.60 kills per set with a .556 clip. He tied his career-high with 11 kills against then-No. 7 UC Irvine earlier this season and posted a season-high five blocks on two occasions.

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 41 after collecting a pair of 3-2 victories over No. 1 Hawaii to close out the regular season. 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.

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.

Record Setter
Senior TJ DeFalco became the new Long Beach State service aces leader after recording career ace No. 159 at UC Santa Barbara on March 15. DeFalco's 159 career aces topped former LBSU All-American Scott Touzinsky's previous record of 158 - a record that stood for 15 years.DeFalco has now brought his career aces total up to 178.

Elite Company
Senior setter Josh Tuaniga joined an elite group when he surpassed the 4,000 career assist milestone against then-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 4,522 in his career as he has moved into fourth all-time at Long Beach State.

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 178 in his career as he is the program's all-time aces leader. Ensing, meanwhile, has amassed 134 in his career for fourth all-time at LBSU. Not to be outdone by his teammates, Tuaniga has racked up 105 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 1,624 and 1,402 kills, respectively. DeFalco moved into seventh place all-time as he passed former LBSU All-American Taylor Crabb. Ensing, meanwhile, slid into 11th at Long Beach State passing Beach standout Jim Polster.

Among The Best
TJ DeFalco has collected 156 digs this season to bring his career mark to 763 which ranks him seventh all-time at Long Beach State. DeFalco is 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.

Tops in the Nation
Long Beach State leads the NCAA with 1.94 service aces per set after racking up 186 over 28 matches. The Beach boast a pair of players who rank in the top 10 in the nation in aces per set. TJ DeFalco leads the way with 0.54 which is tops in the Big West and fourth in the country, while Kyle Ensing is sixth in the NCAA with 0.52 aces per set, which is good for third in the league.

Hitting the Spot
After leading the nation in hitting in each of the last two years, the Long Beach State offense hasn't seen much of a drop off. The Beach are hitting .411 on the year and are currently ranked second in both the NCAA and the Big West. LBSU has three players ranked in the top 40 in the nation. TJ DeFalco's attack percentage of .386 is 13th in the country, while Kyle Ensing is hitting .361 which is good for 18th in the nation, and Louis Richard's .308 hitting percentage ranks him 37th in the NCAA.

Legacy: Long Beach State
In December, the Big West Conference announced its plan to roll out LEGACY: Long Beach State, a five-episode docuseries. The series offers the never-before-seen inner workings of the 2018 National Champion Long Beach State men's volleyball team, while chronicling the 2019 campaign.

The first episode of LEGACY premiered on Dec. 27 and focused on the team's first official practice and featured a sit-down interview with senior middle blocker Nick Amado.

Episode two of LEGACY, which was released on Feb. 20, focused on the team's Jan. 19 contest at UCLA in a rematch of the 2018 National Championship. The second episode also included an interview with senior outside hitter TJ DeFalco.

The third episode of LEGACY came out on Friday, April 5 and recounted the Beach's home opener against USC and featured an interview with senior libero Jordan Molina.

Episode four of LEGACY was dropped on Wednesday, April 17 which centered on Big West Conference action and focused on BWC Player of the Year Kyle Ensing.

Check out LongBeachState.com and the BigWest.org to catch all of the action.

The Future of LBSU Men's Volleyball
Long Beach State men's volleyball head coach Alan Knipe has announced the signing of six incoming freshman and one sophomore transfer for the 2020 season. The highly-touted recruiting class consists of libero Mason Briggs, middle blockers Aidan Grosz and Grant Marocchi, outside hitters Nate Harlan, Zach Schneider, and Karl Stenlund, as well as setter, Aidan Knipe.

"This is a highly talented group with an exceptional volleyball IQ and the ability to compete," Knipe said of the recruiting class. "This group comes to the Beach with experience and success at the highest level. We welcome these special young men and their families to our amazing culture here at Long Beach State."

Up Next
With a victory in the NCAA Semifinal match, Long Beach State will advance to the National Championship match against the winner of the No. 1 Hawaii-No. 6 Lewis match. The NCAA National Championship match will take place on Saturday, May 4 at 5 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid. The contest will be televised on ESPN2.