No. 16 Beach Volleyball to Compete in Battle for L.A.

LONG BEACH, Calif.- Long Beach State's beach volleyball team heads to Los Angeles this weekend for the Battle for L.A. On Saturday, the Beach face off against No. 2 USC and Concordia. On Sunday, the Beach matchup with No. 3 UCLA and Florida Atlantic (FAU).

Saturday, March 11 (Battle for L.A.)
Los Angeles, Calif.
10 a.m. at No. 2 USC
2 p.m. vs. Concordia

Sunday, March 12 (Battle for L.A.)
Los Angeles, Calif.
10 a.m. at No. 3 UCLA
12 p.m. vs. Florida Atlantic

ABOUT THE BEACH
--Long Beach State drops two spots in this week's poll after a 2-4 weekend, they are now ranked 16^th in the country. The Beach remains ranked for the 90^th consecutive week since the poll first came out in 2013.
--The Beach won two matches versus Cal Poly with scores of 5-0 and 3-2, but lost both duals to No. 9 Hawai'i in hard fought sets with both scores being 2-3 losses at the inaugural Best in the West Tournament. On Monday, the Beach also lost a pair of close duals to No. 18 Pepperdine and No. 12 California with scores of 2-3.

THE OFFSEASON
-- While it is considered the offseason, the Beach saw individual action throughout the fall of 2022. The most notable was Malia Gementera, Taylor Hagenah, and Megan Widener flying across the country to compete in the AVCA Fall Championships at Gulf Shores, Alabama. Gementera and Hagenah would finish third in their respective bracket competing against top players from Stanford, LMU, and TCU.
-- Sydney Stevens and Maggie Walters also saw action competing in the USA Volleyball Collegiate Challenge and bringing home silver medals from Huntington Beach.

BATTLE FOR L.A. PREVIEW
-- No. 16 Long Beach State takes on three Southern California opponents in the Battle for L.A.
-- No. 2 USC is coming off of a strong weekend going 4-0 against teams in the top 20 bumping them two spots from last week's AVCA poll. They beat then No. 1 UCLA, No. 12 California, No. 7 Stanford, and No. 16 Washington at the Pac-12 South Invitational.
-- Concordia is 4-6 so far on the season after winning both of their matches versus CSUN and Utah on Tuesday. They are set to take on CSU Bakersfield and UTEP on Friday before they join the Battle for L.A.
--No. 3 UCLA is 9-1 so far on the season, with their only loss being to No. 2 USC causing them to fall out of the number one spot in the rankings. They went 3-1 at the Pac 12 South Invitational last weekend, with wins coming against Oregon, Arizona State, and Utah.
-- Florida Atlantic will make the trip to Los Angeles for the weekend, entering play with a 7-1 record. Their last matches were played on Saturday at the FAU Beach Invitational. They won each of their four matches 5-0 at the invitational. Their wins were versus Texas A&M- Corpus Christi, Saint Leo, Southern Miss, and Palm Beach Atlantic.

HISTORY WITH THE OPPONENTS
-- Against USC, the Beach owns a record of 5-12, falling to the Trojans in 12 straight duals including opening day of this season.
-- Against Concordia, the Beach have never lost to them, owning a record of 8-0.
-- Against UCLA, the Beach owns a record of 4-9, including nine straight losses.
-- The Beach and Florida Atlantic have never faced each other in program history.

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Players Mentioned

Malia Gementera

Taylor Hagenah

Sydney Stevens

Maggie Walters

Megan Widener

Long Beach State University Athletics