By While the No. 1 men’s volleyball team competes in the MPSF Tournament, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced Tuesday that Long Beach State has been chosen to host the 2019 championship.
The event will take place from May 2 – 4 and will be the first time since 2003 that the college has hosted the event.
LBSU was selected for the bid that receives more than 3,000 submissions from members schools, conferences, sports commissions and cities. The Walter Pyramid was chosen as one of the 613 sites awarded during this cycle.
“First of all, I’m really grateful to the NCAA Selection Committee to choose [LBSU],” head coach Alan Knipe said. “I’m sure there was a whole bunch of really good bids on the table, but when they chose us, I think what they did was they validated our entire athletic department and the history we have of running championships, whether they be conference championships or NCAA Championships.”
Along with the 2003 championship, where Lewis beat BYU, the college hosted in 2001 when BYU defeated UCLA in straight sets for the national title. So, LBSU has proven to be a capable host in the past.
“It shows that the NCAA has a lot of faith that Long Beach can run a really quality event,” Knipe said. “And that’s definitely the case because of the wonderful people we have in our athletic department.”
While LBSU is one of the premier programs in men’s volleyball, hosting the event will also give the community that has a great volleyball following a chance to come out.
“[This] is another big event in Long Beach,” Knipe said. “Whether it be final fours that we’ve already had or coaching the national team and playing some big matches here where we actually qualified for the London Olympics here at the Pyramid, I know for our volleyball community here — they’ll come out, they’ll support a championship and come out in huge numbers and they’ll be excited.”
The 2017 NCAA Championship will take place in Columbus, Ohio at the St. John Arena.
