{"id":108,"date":"2018-05-07T15:39:30","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T22:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/?p=65256"},"modified":"2018-05-07T15:39:30","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T22:39:30","slug":"long-beach-state-defeats-ucla-for-first-ncaa-mens-volleyball-championship-in-nearly-30-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/long-beach-state-defeats-ucla-for-first-ncaa-mens-volleyball-championship-in-nearly-30-years","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach State Defeats UCLA for First NCAA Men&#8217;s Volleyball Championship In Nearly 30 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Photo courtesy of LBSU Athletics.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Top-seeded Long Beach State has won the NCAA men&#8217;s volleyball championship, defeating unseeded UCLA, 25-19, 23-25, 20-25, 26-24, 15-12, at Pauley Pavilion.<\/p>\n<p>The 49ers were two points away from defeat Saturday, twice in the fourth set. The Bruins tied the score, 23-23, on outside hitter Dylan Missry&#8217;s kill, but he then served the ball into the net, giving Long Beach State a 24-23 lead.<\/p>\n<p>A kill by UCLA outside hitter Jake Arnitz tied the score for the eighth time in the set, but a kill by 49ers setter Josh Tuaniga and his service ace gave Long Beach State the victory, forcing the decisive fifth set.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I served that ball and it landed, I don&#8217;t know how close it was, but I thought it was out,\u201d said Tuaniga, who was voted as the most outstanding player of the NCAA Tournament, capping a season when he was selected as the national player of the year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was devastated. And then I see a linesman just do that with a flag. It was all good from there.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Josh Tuaniga of the 2018 NATIONAL CHAMPION \ud83c\udfc6<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LBSUMVB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@lbsumvb<\/a> team is our Athlete of the Week! Tuaniga was named the AVCA National Player of the Year and doubled down with earning Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GoBeach?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GoBeach<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LBNation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LBNation<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qT6QoCSFRP\">pic.twitter.com\/qT6QoCSFRP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; LBSU Athletics (@LBSUAthletics) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LBSUAthletics\/status\/993538017431203840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 7, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>There were five ties and four lead changes in the fifth set. Long Beach State took the set for good when back-to-back attack errors by Bruins opposite Christian Hessenauer and a third by Missry gave the 49ers a 12-9 lead, three points away from victory.<\/p>\n<p>The Bruins pulled within one, 12-11, on a service error by Tuaniga and an attack error by opposite\/outside hitter Kyle Ensing, but UCLA was unable to get any closer.<\/p>\n<p>A kill by middle blocker Nick Amado assured the 49ers of their second men&#8217;s volleyball championship and first since 1991.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to go out there and bomb (serves),\u201d Bruins coach John Speraw said. \u201cThat was the only way we were going to win.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think somewhere in the middle of that fifth set, we probably fatigued a little bit. We had a run at the end of that fourth set when we had all of our best servers go back and error, and I think it was a lot about fatigue.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LBSUMVB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@lbsumvb<\/a> is your 2018 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LBNATION?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LBNATION<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GoBeach?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GoBeach<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NT6IA94bVv\">pic.twitter.com\/NT6IA94bVv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; LBSU Athletics (@LBSUAthletics) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LBSUAthletics\/status\/992990495038042112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 6, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Among the factors cited by Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe for the outstanding season and national championship were experiences from trips to the East Coast, Chicago and Canada.<\/p>\n<p>Knipe praised Long Beach State President Jane Close Conoley and the university&#8217;s administration \u201cfor allowing us to grow our sport and to grow our program and allow us to take those trips and to invest in our athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s an entire family that has allowed this to happen this year,&#8221; Knipe said.<\/p>\n<p>Joining Tuaniga, who had 46 assists, on the All-Tournament Team were Ensing, an opposite\/outside hitter who had a team-high 20 kills, and 49ers outside hitter TJ DeFalco, who had 18 kills.<\/p>\n<p>UCLA setter Micah Ma&#8217;a, who had 52 assists, and Bruins sophomore middle blocker Daenan Gyimah, who had a match-high 21 kills, were also selected for the All-Tournament Team.<\/p>\n<p>This was the 49ers&#8217; seventh appearance in the National Championship match, and first since 2004.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"fr\" dir=\"ltr\">National Champs! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GoBeach?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GoBeach<\/a>! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/e4V2B13ytS\">pic.twitter.com\/e4V2B13ytS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Robert Garcia (@RobertGarcia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobertGarcia\/status\/992959548934651904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 6, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>UCLA was seeking to increase its own record for NCAA championships in men&#8217;s volleyball to 20. Its most recent NCAA men&#8217;s volleyball title was in 2006. This was the Bruins&#8217; 26th appearance in the National Championship match and first since 2006.<\/p>\n<p>The 49ers (28-1) moved into the No. 1 spot in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll January 15 and has remained there ever since. UCLA (26-8) is ranked third.<\/p>\n<p>Long Beach State began the season with a school-record 24-match winning streak. The 49ers suffered their only loss April 14 at Hawaii.<\/p>\n<p>This was the third meeting of the season between the two teams, with the 49ers winning both of the previous two matches in four sets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Top-seeded Long Beach State has won the NCAA men&#8217;s volleyball championship, defeating unseeded UCLA, 25-19, 23-25, 20-25, 26-24, 15-12, at Pauley Pavilion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":16455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","pmpro_default_level":0,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","footnotes":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=108"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}