Strong-armed water polo woman Chelsea Parks is leading the wet set in scoring. Photo by John Fajardo/LBSU.
Nobody has copyrighted the term “March Sadness” so I hereby claim rights to what half of sporting America is feeling this month. Have your people contact my people for our licensing arrangements.
Obviously both of the basketball teams at the Beach fell short of invites to the NCAA tournament but the body of work by the men (19-13) included the regular season conference crown and a guarantee for a NIT games. The Niners will claim that prize in Waco, Texas (home of the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and the Dr. Pepper Museum) on Wednesday when the team takes on Baylor (18-12) in the first round game set for 6PM (PT) on ESPN2 (ironically both of the LBSU games in the Big West tourney were tape delayed so for many of the home town faithful this may be there only live post-season TV exposure of the Monson men). The 32-team field has brackets and in the 49ers bracket are No. 1 seed Kentucky, the reigning NCAA Champion, and Pac-12 team Arizona State.
History will note that LBSU is in a postseason tournament for the third consecutive season, something that hasn’t happened for a long time, 1970-73. They are the only Big West representative in the NIT. Long Beach is 2-6 all-time in the NIT, most recently having lost to Washington State in 2011. Head coach Dan Monson put on his happy face. “This gives us a second chance…Everyone in the NIT had dreams of playing in the NCAA tournament, but just weren’t consistent enough to get in, so this gives us a second chance.
Baylor is a solid team, with one of the top big men in the country in Isaiah Austin. We know they have good players and are a national-caliber program. It’s going to be a tough game, but as a competitor, our guys have to step up and focus on this opportunity to go out and continue our season. Hopefully our team will have that mindset on Wednesday.”
On a brighter side of the Beach report is women’s water polo in general and their pool general Chelsea Parks. The No. 9 Long Beach State women’s water polo team (17-3) saw its 14-game winning streak snapped by eighth-ranked Hawai’i Friday afternoon at the Campus Pool. The 49ers couldn’t stop UH’s Monika Eggens as the senior fired in six of the Rainbow Wahine’s 12 goals. But perhaps the brightest light in the pool this spring has been Ms. Parks guided the 49ers to their 13th-consecutive win over the weekend scoring a team-high 12 goals. The junior driver leads the team with 43 goals and a week ago fired in four goals in each of the first two games to record eight on the first day of competition. The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. native followed up with a hat-trick against La Verne and LBSU completed its third tournament undefeated. The 49ers return to home action this Friday for a conference match against San Diego State before taking on a pair of non-conference opponents at the Aztec Aquaplex Saturday.
On dry land, even dry sand, the Beach defeated No. 3 USC on the road to stay undefeated during the 2013 sand volleyball season. Tara Roenicke returned to the 49ers lineup, and sealed the win with Caitlin Ledoux in a 21-14, 21-16 win over Burnham and Russ at No. 1. Ledoux made 18 kills on .533 hitting to finish off the win for Long Beach State as the 49ers captured the match with the win in the top flight. Roenicke added 19 digs and 10 kills in her first match in 2013 as the 2012 All-Americans played together for the first time. The 49ers also had wins at No. 5 and No. 4 in the first two matches of the day.
Tyler Jackson and Janisa Johnson won at No. 5 21-18, 21-15 as Jackson made 22 kills with just one error, as the team made just three total in the match. The 49ers also won the closest match of the day in the fourth flight, as Lauren Minkel and Jocelyn Neely outlasted Brooke Fournier and Natasa Siljkovic 21-18, 20-22, 15-12 in a thrilling match that featured over 100 combined digs. Long Beach State returns home this week, hosting a pair of dual matches at the LBSU Sand Courts. First up is a 1PM contest against Nebraska on Tuesday.
As low as the Dirtbag spirits were coming in to the weekend against historic rival Wichita State, they ended up with a broom in their hands and a smile on their face. Oh yes, it took the teams third double play of the day on Sunday (after a leadoff walk, closer Jon Maciel picked up a strikeout, and Jeff McNeil and Michael Hill capped an outstanding series for both with McNeil making a glove flip to Hill, who completed Long Beach State’s third double play of the game to finish off Wichita State 5-4) and with the wins on Friday and Saturday it was a perhaps season saving sweep.
Both teams had action in the first inning after a leadoff hit. Wichita State (11-8) got on the board in the first inning after a Bobbit single with an RBI from designated hitter Johnny Coy. Long Beach State (9-11) did the Shockers one better, however, as Jeff McNeil singled to start the bottom of the first, scored on an RBI double from Jeff Yamaguchi, and then following a fielder’s choice, Ino Patron scored on a double from Richard Prigatano to give the Dirtbags a 2-1 lead after one.
The Dirtbags added two more runs in the second inning. Using perfect small ball, Josh Guerra dropped a bunt single to get on base, followed by a perfectly executed slash from Jonathan Serven to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Colby Brenner followed with an RBI groundout, moving both runners, and Michael Hill cracked an RBI single to give LBSU a 4-1 lead. True the Shockers bounced back, taking advantage of two walks from David Hill to cut the lead back to one at 4-3 on a bases loaded single but the Niners steadied down the course and won. Long Beach State will play a midweek contest at San Diego State on the road this Tuesday before returning home to face Cal State Fullerton in a non-conference boost the box office rivalry series this weekend.
DUST BUSTERS—Despite the work ahead in hoops the postseason men’s basketball banquet has been set for April 17th at Old Ranch Country Club in Seal Beach…sponsoring a player or a table of players (8-10 student-athletes) is solicited…another table sponsor plea is from Jewels of the Night where you can bid on that Grand Prix package with everything but a dent in your bumper and whiplash…
Sophomore Devin Hudson is clearly the top returnee for either gender’s hoop teams next year, she had another huge performance in the BWC tourney loss finishing the regular season with LBSU’s first 20-point and 20-rebound performance in 18 years…at the tourney Hudson was back at it as she carried the 49ers with 17 points and a new career-high 24 rebounds.
Message from down south, the folks at High Point College let me know that they are very confused trying to scout for their CBI basketball game…”we knew it was something or some place called Cal Irvine but the only info we had from our west coast alums was for Cal Worthington! Is there a difference?” Yep, no lions or Tigers on top of your ride, just an oversized marsupial—DR. DAN