After an entire week off from conference play, the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team is ready to hit the road to face No. 2 UCLA and No. 6 UC Santa Barbara.
Head coach Alan Knipe said he appreciated the time off after a rough January during which his team played 14 matches with only four held at home.
“It gave us an opportunity to work on some things in our own gym that were really only about us instead of preparing for matches,” Knipe said. “Some of our guys were also able to have some downtime to recover from nagging injuries.”
LBSU (6-3, 5-3 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will first take on the Bruins who saw a nine-game winning streak snap after getting swept by then-No. 2 Pepperdine last week, giving them their first and only loss of the season. A few days later on the road, the Bruins swept their town rival and fifth-ranked Southern California.
UCLA (10-2, 7-1 MPSF) is led by Robart Page, who has 180 kills, and Gonzalo Quiroga, who has 153 kills and a team-high 78 digs and 22 aces.
Spencer Rowe and Trent Kersten control their team’s defense at the net with a combined 81 blocks.
Up next for the 49ers is UCSB (6-3, 5-3 MPSF), which lost to USC in five sets last week. A few days later, the Gauchos were able to go home victorious against Pepperdine, the only team UCLA has fallen to.
The Gauchos are led offensively by Austin Kingi with 107 kills and Evan Licht with 106 kills, while Jonah Seif controls the back row with 69 digs.
With a week off, the 49ers were not only given time to recover from injuries and focus on their own game, but the non-starters were also given a chance to show the coaches what they could offer.
“It’s hard to earn your right to play in matches when the team’s never here to practice,” Knipe said. “We had a couple of guys [non-starters] step up, and when the right situation arises, we will consider everything that has happened this week and possibly put them on the court.”
The 49ers will face the Bruins on Wednesday and the Gauchos on Friday, both at 7 p.m.