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The road to an NCAA championship begins today as No. 2-seeded Long Beach State opens their NCAA Tournament against No. 7 Belmont Abbey at 5pm in the Walter Pyramid.
The Beach (25-2) are making their seventh NCAA appearance in eight years, and would play Thursday evening against the winner of Ohio State and Grand Canyon with a win tonight.
The Beach spent much of the week collecting accolades, with six players earning All-American honors Monday–Mason Briggs, Sotiris Siapanis, and Simon Torwie on the first team, Aidan Knipe on the second team, and Clarke Godbold and Skyler Varga on the honorable mention. Head coach Alan Knipe was named Big West Coach of the Year as well, and assistant coach Nick MacRae was named the AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year on Tuesday.
Belmont Abbey is 21-5 and went 13-1 in Conference Carolinas. It’s their second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and the first meeting ever between the Beach and the Crusaders.
We’ll have live updates from the match as well as a feature about LBSU libero Mason Briggs later today.
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