Before the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team lost to No. 1 Ohio State Jan. 28, it was ranked No. 4 in the nation.
Now heading up north to take on No. 12 UC Santa Barbara (6-7, 3-7) today, the 49ers (10-2, 6-1) are ranked No. 2 in the nation and No.1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rankings.
Since losing to the Buckeyes, LBSU has been dominant with four consecutive 3-0 victories against Pepperdine, Stanford, UC Irvine and UC San Diego.
LBSU is led by sophomore hitters TJ DeFalco and Kyle Ensing, who have combined for 304 of the team’s 572 kills.
DeFalco is averaging 3.98 kills per set while Ensing is averaging 3.34.
The man behind DeFalco and Ensing’s success is fellow sophomore setter Josh Tuaniga. Tuaniga has been vital for the team, as he is on his way to 451 assists this year.
Tuaniga is connecting on .503 percent of his set attempts while averaging 11.56 assists per set.
As the 49ers have been hitting their stride since conference play began, the Gauchos are on a six-game losing streak after a five-set loss to Stanford Saturday.
UCSB is led by senior outside hitter Jacob Delson, who leads the team with 216 kills this season – averaging 4.41 kills per set.
Following Delson is sophomore outside hitter Corey Chavers with 113 kills.
Last season, LBSU swept UCSB March 23 to clinch the program’s 17th 20-win season.
In that contest, DeFalco led the 49ers with 10 kills.
