The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2023-24 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
No. 1 Long Beach State men’s volleyball clinched a share of the Big West Conference regular season championship with a pair of sweeps of No. 15 Cal State Northridge last weekend. The Beach cruised to a 25-18, 25-17, 25-20 victory at home before winning 25-23, 25-21, 25-21 on the road.
LBSU (22-1, 8-0) got a great weekend from setter Aidan Knipe who averaged 11.33 assists per set as the team hit .321. Junior outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis averaged four kills per set on a .435 attack percentage.
The Beach visits No. 5 UC Irvine on Friday and hosts the Anteaters on Saturday. They are the last two games of the regular season before the Big West Championship tournament in Hawaii.
Softball
Senior Jocylyn Vidal helped LBSU take a Big West series at UC San Diego last week when she delivered a seventh-inning grand slam. Vidal went 6-for-11 in three games with two walks, two doubles and two home runs.
LBSU (14-24, 9-3) hosts UC Santa Barbara this weekend. The Friday game is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the double header on Saturday is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Baseball
The Dirtbags drew a season-high 10 walks in a 6-3 win at San Diego State on Tuesday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Catcher John Newman Jr. got the night off behind the plate and still had a hit, an RBI an a run scored as the designated hitter. Backup catcher Jack Collins filled in nicely with a hit, two RBI and two runs scored.
Collins also starter Van Larson navigate five scoreless innings. Collin Miskelly and Owen Geiss came out of the bullpen in relief before closer Mike Villani retired the side in order in the ninth for his seventh save of the year.
The Dirtbags (17-12-1, 5-7 Big West) travel to CSUN (17-13, 6-3 Big West) this weekend for a three-game series.
Women’s Water Polo
No. 7 LBSU (19-7, 4-1) picked up a 14-7 win over UC Davis last week while sophomore Elisa Portillo scored her 100th career goal. The Beach is in second place in the Big West headed into the last weeks of the season.
Women’s Tennis
Peppi Ramstedt picked up a pair of wins last week at No. 4 singles as she defeated Cal Poly’s Kennedy Buntrock, 6-3, 6-4, before taking down UC Santa Barbara’s Kira Reuter, 6-1, 6-4. LBSU (11-6, 5-2) had its five-game winning streak broken by UCSB.
Beach Volleyball
The Best In the West tournament last week was a chance for No. 9 LBSU to grab an upset of No. 6 Cal Poly 3-2. Savannah Standage and Mo Gibson clinched a close dual against the Mustangs to help the Beach snap Cal Poly’s 16-match win streak. LBSU can pick up another upset this week against No. 1 UCLA, No. 5 TCU and No. 3 USC.
Track & Field
At the Triton Classic in San Diego last week Rori Denness-Lamont tied her own school record in the javelin (174’5”) while winning the event by almost 10 feet. Nikolaj Freschlin posted the best men’s result with a second place finish in the javelin (206’1”). LBSU will have representatives at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate, Bryan Clay Invitational and its own Beach Invitational this week.
Women’s Golf
LBSU had the best rounds of the final round of the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic and ended up finishing second as one of only two teams that finished under par for the tournament. Sophomore Janae Leovao had a podium finish in third place at 4-under par after 54 holes.
Men’s Golf
Charlie Forster and Clay Seeber both placed in the Top 25 at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic while the Beach finished sixth out of 23 teams.
