Friday, April 21
Manoa, Hawaii
12:15 pm
Long Beach State University
vs
Sacramento State
Beach Volleyball Set for Big West Championships as No. 2 Seed
4/19/2023 1:50:00 PM | Women's Beach Volleyball
The Big West Championships will be hosted by Hawaii this weekend.
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Long Beach State is headed to the islands of Hawai'i this weekend for the 2023 Big West Beach Volleyball Championships. The double-elimination style bracket begins on Friday with the Beach earning a number two seed for the weekend.
Championships Central | Bracket
ABOUT THE BEACH
-- Long Beach State finished the regular season with a 20-14 overall record. They are coming off a 1-3 weekend at the Center of Effort Challenge in San Luis Obispo. All three of the Beach's losses came to teams ranked in the top six, With a 1-4 loss to No. 4 Florida State, a 2-3 loss to No. 6 Loyola Marymount, and a 2-3 Loss to No. 2 USC. Their lone win came against the hosts Cal Poly with a score of 3-2 in the seventh place match.
-- The Beach stayed ranked at No. 11 in the country in the AVCA polls extending their streak to 96 consecutive weeks of being ranked as they have been featured in the rankings every year of their existence since 2013.
PLAYER NOTES
-- Malia Gementera and Taylor Hagenah continue to be a dominant force for the Beach in their first collegiate season. Sporting an overall record of 29-5, they have won 22 of their last 23 duals and won 16 ranked matchups this year.
-- Natalie Glenn has been a revelation in her first year with the Beach. For the season, she has played with three different partners and has posted a 25-8 (.757) overall record in her matches. The 25 wins ranks third most on the team this year.
-- Similarly, Megan Widener and Maggie Walters have been outstanding in their first seasons at LBSU. Widener sports a 21-11 overall record playing primarily out of the fours while Walters is 18-11 primarily out of the fives. Each has played with three different partners on the year.
RECORD BOOK ALTERING
-- As we head into the conference championships, the record books have been altered this season thanks to the freshmen pair of Malia Gementera and Taylor Hagenah.
-- With their win over USC on Saturday morning, the duo set a new program record for most pairs wins in a single-season with 28. It surpasses the 27 victories from Jenelle Hudson and Megan Kruidhoff during the 2017 season.
-- On a similar note, Gementera's and Hagenah's 29 wins puts them in a tie for most individual wins in single-season history. With one more victory, they will become the first Long Beach State student-athletes to eclipse the 30-win mark and move past Sasha Karelov (2018) on the all-time list.
FLASHBACK TO THE BIGGER WEST INVITATIONAL
-- The Bigger West Invitational was a tournament in San Luis Obispo featuring all seven Big West teams on March 25-26. The tournament serves as a key piece of the criteria when determining the Big West Championships seeding.
-- The Bigger West was dominated by the top two seeds with Hawaii going 6-0 and Long Beach State going 5-1. The Beach's only loss came to the Rainbow Wahine in the weekend finale.
-- In their five wins, opponents only managed two points against Long Beach in SLO with UC Davis and Cal Poly each falling by scores of 4-1 while Sacramento State, CSU Bakersfield, and CSUN were all 5-0 sweeps.
PREVIEWING THE CHAMPIONSHIPS
-- This will be the third consecutive season Long Beach State has earned the two-seed for the Big West Championships, but both years they finished third. The Beach has never won the conference title since it became a Big West sponsored sport in 2016 with Cal Poly and Hawaii each winning it three times.
-- The Beach will open the bracket with seven-seeded Sacramento State once again. LBSU has never lost to the Hornets and have only ever surrendered one point in their nine meetings.
-- In the six years of the conference tournament, the Beach owns a 16-12 record after a 3-2 showing at the 2022 Big West Championships.
-- The seeding goes as follows:
1. Hawaii (26-6)
2. Long Beach State (20-14)
3. UC Davis (18-10)
4. CSU Bakersfield (16-8)
5. Cal Poly (11-22)
6. CSUN (16-14)
7. Sacramento State (6-15)
HISTORY WITH THE OPPONENTS
-- Against Hawaii the Beach is 8-23 all-time and fell in all three of their meetings through this season.
-- Against Cal Poly, the Beach is 13-6 and went a perfect 4-0 against the Mustangs this year.
-- Against the rest of the Big West institutions, the Beach is a combined 53-0 including a win over each of CSU Bakersfield, CSUN, UC Davis, and Sacramento State this season.
Championships Central | Bracket
ABOUT THE BEACH
-- Long Beach State finished the regular season with a 20-14 overall record. They are coming off a 1-3 weekend at the Center of Effort Challenge in San Luis Obispo. All three of the Beach's losses came to teams ranked in the top six, With a 1-4 loss to No. 4 Florida State, a 2-3 loss to No. 6 Loyola Marymount, and a 2-3 Loss to No. 2 USC. Their lone win came against the hosts Cal Poly with a score of 3-2 in the seventh place match.
-- The Beach stayed ranked at No. 11 in the country in the AVCA polls extending their streak to 96 consecutive weeks of being ranked as they have been featured in the rankings every year of their existence since 2013.
PLAYER NOTES
-- Malia Gementera and Taylor Hagenah continue to be a dominant force for the Beach in their first collegiate season. Sporting an overall record of 29-5, they have won 22 of their last 23 duals and won 16 ranked matchups this year.
-- Natalie Glenn has been a revelation in her first year with the Beach. For the season, she has played with three different partners and has posted a 25-8 (.757) overall record in her matches. The 25 wins ranks third most on the team this year.
-- Similarly, Megan Widener and Maggie Walters have been outstanding in their first seasons at LBSU. Widener sports a 21-11 overall record playing primarily out of the fours while Walters is 18-11 primarily out of the fives. Each has played with three different partners on the year.
RECORD BOOK ALTERING
-- As we head into the conference championships, the record books have been altered this season thanks to the freshmen pair of Malia Gementera and Taylor Hagenah.
-- With their win over USC on Saturday morning, the duo set a new program record for most pairs wins in a single-season with 28. It surpasses the 27 victories from Jenelle Hudson and Megan Kruidhoff during the 2017 season.
-- On a similar note, Gementera's and Hagenah's 29 wins puts them in a tie for most individual wins in single-season history. With one more victory, they will become the first Long Beach State student-athletes to eclipse the 30-win mark and move past Sasha Karelov (2018) on the all-time list.
FLASHBACK TO THE BIGGER WEST INVITATIONAL
-- The Bigger West Invitational was a tournament in San Luis Obispo featuring all seven Big West teams on March 25-26. The tournament serves as a key piece of the criteria when determining the Big West Championships seeding.
-- The Bigger West was dominated by the top two seeds with Hawaii going 6-0 and Long Beach State going 5-1. The Beach's only loss came to the Rainbow Wahine in the weekend finale.
-- In their five wins, opponents only managed two points against Long Beach in SLO with UC Davis and Cal Poly each falling by scores of 4-1 while Sacramento State, CSU Bakersfield, and CSUN were all 5-0 sweeps.
PREVIEWING THE CHAMPIONSHIPS
-- This will be the third consecutive season Long Beach State has earned the two-seed for the Big West Championships, but both years they finished third. The Beach has never won the conference title since it became a Big West sponsored sport in 2016 with Cal Poly and Hawaii each winning it three times.
-- The Beach will open the bracket with seven-seeded Sacramento State once again. LBSU has never lost to the Hornets and have only ever surrendered one point in their nine meetings.
-- In the six years of the conference tournament, the Beach owns a 16-12 record after a 3-2 showing at the 2022 Big West Championships.
-- The seeding goes as follows:
1. Hawaii (26-6)
2. Long Beach State (20-14)
3. UC Davis (18-10)
4. CSU Bakersfield (16-8)
5. Cal Poly (11-22)
6. CSUN (16-14)
7. Sacramento State (6-15)
HISTORY WITH THE OPPONENTS
-- Against Hawaii the Beach is 8-23 all-time and fell in all three of their meetings through this season.
-- Against Cal Poly, the Beach is 13-6 and went a perfect 4-0 against the Mustangs this year.
-- Against the rest of the Big West institutions, the Beach is a combined 53-0 including a win over each of CSU Bakersfield, CSUN, UC Davis, and Sacramento State this season.
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Beach Volleyball
/ Women's Beach Volleyball
/ Women's Beach Volleyball
/ Women's Beach Volleyball
/ Women's Beach Volleyball
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