Hopes for a National Championship are still alive for the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team as the 49ers took the No. 4 seed and earned an at-large bid for the play-in round on May 3 against fifth seeded Erskine College.
This is the 49ers’ eighth trip to the NCAA tournament and first since 2008 when the 49ers lost to Pepperdine in the semifinals.
After getting swept by UCLA in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation semifinals on Thursday, the 49ers still had a chance to earn a trip to the big dance. LBSU held a slight edge over Stanford in the rating percentage index and earned an at-large bid to the tourney on Sunday.
The 49ers didn’t go down without a fight in the semifinal match against the Bruins, keeping the first two sets close. LBSU held the set point twice, but were unable to put away the final point on both occasions.
In set three, the 49ers were never able to recover from the Bruins 11-2 lead before they eventually took the set and match 25-19.
The Bruins were able to hold the 49ers to a .250 hitting percentage for the night, with LBSU never hitting above .300 in all three sets.
LBSU will travel to Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania for the play-in against Erskine on May 3 set to start at 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. The winner takes on No. 1 BYU on May 5.