After a successful 5-1 road trip, the Long Beach State women’s volleyball team (18-5, 8-2) will return to the friendly confines of The Walter Pyramid for conference matches against UC Riverside (2-22, 0-12) Friday and Cal State Fullerton (16-9, 5-6) Saturday.
Cal Poly currently leads the Big West, but with The Beach only two matches behind, a close race to the end is on the horizon.
If the two squads end the season with identical conference records, they will both be crowned Big West co-champions, but Cal Poly will get the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and The Beach will most likely get an at-large bid.
For The Beach to win the Big West, it will need to win its final four conference matches and Cal Poly would need to drop one of its final matches.
The Mustangs play conference matches against Cal State Northridge Friday, Pacific Saturday, and a non-conference match against UC Davis next week.
Next week, The Beach will play CSUN Thursday and Pacific Saturday for the final conference matches of the season.
Besides the conference title, another race is ahead. With only five matches left, head coach Brian Gimmillaro needs four victories to reach 600 career victories. The final matches for LBSU will be during Thanksgiving weekend, when it hosts the Baden Thanksgiving Tournament against Virginia Commonwealth, Albany and Western Michigan.
Winners of eight of the last nine matches, The Beach goes into Friday’s match with a two-match winning streak, sweeping rivals UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara last week.
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL WEEKEND PREVIEW
Who: Long Beach State (18-5, 8-2)
vs. UC Riverside (2-22, 0-12)
LBSU vs. Cal State Fullerton (16-9, 5-6)
Where: The Walter Pyramid (both matches)
When: 7 p.m. (both matches)
Last Match: LBSU def. UC Riverside 3-0
CS Fullerton def. LBSU 3-2
