Long Beach State was picked third in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Volleyball Coaches’ Poll released this week. The 49ers received 87 points and two first-place votes.

Long Beach State team returns five starters and its libero off a team that finished with a 23-7 record and won the MPSF regular-season title last season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, where the 49ers lost in the semifinals.

The Beach opens the 2009 season with a pair of games against Alberta on Jan. 2-3 in Long Beach. The team begins MPSF conference action against UC San Diego on Jan. 16 behind returning All-Americans Dan Alexander and Dean Bittner.

MPSF Coaches Poll Team (1st-Place Votes) Points

T1.Pepperdine (4) 104

T1.UCLA (2) 104

3.Long Beach State (2) 87

4.CS Northridge (2) 84

5.UC Irvine (1) 80

6.USC (1) 79

7.Stanford 76

8.BYU 70

9.Hawaii 41

10.UC Santa Barbara 28

11.UC San Diego 26

12.Pacific 13

From LBSU reports