Long Beach State University
UC Santa Barbara
No. 8 Long Beach State Set To Start Big West Conference Tournament
4/24/2024 12:33:00 PM | Women's Water Polo
The Beach will head into the tournament as the No. 3 seed and will compete on Friday.
LONG BEACH, Calif.- Long Beach State will begin their hunt for a Big West Tournament title as the No. 3 seed this Friday. The Beach will take on the No. 6 seed UC Santa Barbara at 4:30 p.m. at Schaal Aquatics Center.
Long Beach State (20-8, 5-2) will head up to Davis for the opening round set to start on Friday. The Beach finished the regular season tied for second place in the Big West Conference and earned the No. 3 seed after three teams finished conference play at 5-2.
Lara Luka has been dominant for the Beach all season, leading the team in scoring with 82 goals and assists with 49. She is ranked in the top ten nationally in goals, assists and total points this season. Sophomore Elisa Portillo has had another impressive season, finishing second on the team in goals with 51 and leads the team in steals with 35. On the defensive side, Chelsea Oliver controlled the cage this season, finishing with 179 saves on a .476 save percentage.
The first round matchup will be the second meeting between the two teams this season, with Long Beach State taking the victory 10-4 in early March. UC Santa Barbara (15-13, 2-5 Big West) will enter the tournament after picking up a win over Cal State Fullerton 10-3. Leigh Lyter leads the Gauchos in goals with 38 this season.
The semi-final round is set for Saturday at 2 p.m. against the winner of No. 2 seed UC Irvine and No. 7 seed UC Davis. The championship match will be Sunday at Noon.
All game will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available on thefosh.net. For more information about the Big West Conference tournament, you can visit the tournament page here.
