The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team is six months removed from their national championship win and the team is already back working on another one. Last week marked the team’s first official week of practices for this school year, and they held an offseason tuneup in the Pyramid on Sunday, hosting CSUN, Grand Canyon, and Concordia for a series of scrimmages.
“It’s good for us to get to work against other teams,” said Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe. His team was without reigning National Player of the Year and setter Josh Tuaniga, but Knipe said he was happy to see Carlos Rivera get some work in his place. The team is also planning its national championship celebrations.
The Long Beach State national champions will receive their rings at Homecoming, prior to the school’s men’s basketball game on Nov. 10 at 4 p.m. The national championship banner will be raised at Long Beach State’s first home match of the season, which will happen some time in January (the team’s 2019 schedule should be released in the next few days).
Long Beach is obviously eager to repeat as national champions and they looked ready to go on Saturday, winning all three of their matches. The team returns five starters from last year’s 28-1 squad.
There are some dates to mark on the calendar. The rematch of last year’s national championship will take place in the Pyramid on Feb. 16 when Long Beach State hosts UCLA; the Big West Tournament will be in Hawaii April 18-20, and the NCAA Tournament will be in the Pyramid a week later.
