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The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team has the best record in the country, and was the only top team in the country to win its conference tournament last weekend. Nevertheless, the Beach (25-2) will be the No. 2 seed when the Walter Pyramid plays host to the NCAA Tournament April 30 through May 4.
The Beach will open up Tuesday, April 30 against No. 7 Belmont Abbey at 5pm, and with a win would play the winner of No. 3 Grand Canyon and No. 6 Ohio State on Thursday at 630pm. The national championship will be Saturday, May 4 at 2pm.
No other team has fewer than four losses, and the Beach impressed with a four-set win over UC Irvine in the Big West Tournament championship match on Saturday, but UCLA (23-5) earned the top seed into the tournament despite losing in the MPSF championship the night before.
LBSU coach Alan Knipe wasn’t bothered by the seeding snub, as his team prepares to enter their 14th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, including seven in the last eight seasons. He was pleased with his team’s service onslaught in their Big West win over Irvine the night prior, which was uncorked by Clarke Godbold’s three straight aces midway through the third set.
“He was dialed in,” said Knipe. “With Clarke coming off an injury, getting his confidence level with his serve can just take a few matches to feel the rhythm. Once he got going, for him it’s like a basketball player who’s just feeling it, like Steph Curry draining threes. Those are big moments when you know a guy is just feeling it. We got some separation and it was like everyone joined the party.”
Knipe credited his team with staying focused on winning the conference tournament, which they hadn’t done since 2018.
“We’ve had some opportunities and didn’t win that match the last couple of times we were in it,” he said. “They stayed present in the championship that they could control and did a great job in this tournament.”
The full tournament bracket is: No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Long Beach State, No. 3 Grand Canyon, No. 4 UC Irvine, No. 5 Penn State, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Belmont Abbey, No. 8 Fort Valley State. Irvine and UCLA were both at-large bids after losing their conference tournament championship games.
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