Some interesting stuff on OffTheBlock. Vinnie Lopes sometimes has too much time on his hands. But I like his latest: Top 30 players to know for today’s semifinals. There’s only 29 at the moment. He forgot to add Ghaz Galloway but will do shortly.
NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship
At EagleBank Arena, George Mason, Fairfax, Va.
Thursday semifinals
11 a.m. HST: No. 1 seed UCLA (29-2) vs. No. 4 seed Long Beach State (21-4)
Live stats: https://www.ncaa.com/game/6147337
Live video: https://www.ncaa.com/game/6147337
Series: Long Beach State and UCLA will face each other for the 101st time in program history. In the all-time series, the Bruins lead the Beach, 55-45, including defeating LBSU in a pair of matches earlier this season. When playing each other at a neutral site, UCLA leads 13-6. When facing off in the NCAA Tournament, Long Beach State leads 2-1. The Beach’s two NCAA Tournament wins came in 2022 and 2018. In 2022, both played at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, LBSU defeated UCLA to advance to the NCAA Championship match. In 2018, the Beach knocked off the Bruins in five sets to capture the National Title.
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1:30 p.m. HST (Maybe) No. 2 seed Hawai’i (28-2) vs. No. 3 seed Penn State (27-3)
Radio: 1420-AM/92.7-FM
https://player.listenlive.co/27971
Live stream: https://www.ncaa.com/game/6147338
Live stats: https://www.ncaa.com/game/6147338
Series: Hawai’i leads 16-10. First meeting in 1995.
The Warriors are 3-2 against the Nittany Lions in the NCAA Tournament and all have been at different sites: 1995: Lost at Springfield, Mass. 1996: Won at UCLA. 2002: Won at Penn State. 2015: Lost Stanford. 2017: Won at Ohio State.
- From UH:
- Hawai’i (28-2), the two-time defending national champions, are the No. 2 seed in this year’s NCAA Championship and received a bye into the semifinals.
- UH is appearing in the semifinals for the eighth time in program history with a 5-2 all-time record.
- This year marks UH’s fourth consecutive trip to the semifinals and fifth in the last six tournaments. The last team to make four straight semifinal trips was Long Beach State (2016-19).
- UH’s 28 wins this season is tied for the most in program history along with the 2019 squad.
- UH enters the tournament with a current 11-match win streak.
- UH’s semifinal opponent is Penn State (27-3), champions of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.
- UH and Penn State met on the second day of the OUTRIGGER Invitational in March in Honolulu. The Nittany Lions handed the Warriors their first loss of the season in a four-set victory.
- Hawai’i and Penn State have met five times in the NCAA Tournament with UH holding a 3-2 advantage. The first three meetings were in the semifinals with UH winning two of the three match-ups in 1996 and 2002. PSU won the first meeting in 1995. The last two meetings have occurred in the opening rounds with PSU winning in 2015 and UH winning in 2017. All five match-ups have gone at least four sets.
- Setter Jakob Thelle needs one service ace to set a new all-time program career mark. Currently he is tied for the lead with Costas Theocharidis and Pedro Azenha with 121 aces.
- Twenty of UH’s 28 wins this season have come in straight sets.
- UH is 27-1 when winning the first set this season and 76-3 over the last 3+ seasons.
