It is all about the F word for the 49ers and not just their nickname. The other F is Fullerton whose men’s team is the first round foe for #1 LBSU and their women’s team the first game for the #5 seeded Ladies of the Beach.
WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT NOTES: The first round on Tuesday will have two evening games, starting with Fullerton-LBSU at 6:00 pm. The 49ers downed the Titans twice this season, most recently a two-point road win on February 14. The other matchup features No. 7 UC Davis against No. 6 Cal State Northridge 30 minutes after CSF/LBSU. The two teams split their games this year, with each club winning a home outing. The Ladies tournament has returned to a double-bye format this year, with the first and quarterfinal rounds slated for on Tuesday and Wednesday. The semifinals and championship game will take place in Anaheim at the Honda Center Friday and Saturday. BigWest.TV will carry the first through semifinal rounds, while the championship game will be on Prime Ticket at 1PM on Saturday, March 16. All games involving Hawai’i will also be shown on the islands on Oceanic Time Warner Cable.
Pacific (24-6) earned the top seed for the first time in program history following a 14-4 campaign against league foes. The Tigers earned a double bye to the semifinals and will play the lowest remaining seed in a 12PM matchup at Honda Center. Cal Poly claimed the other coveted double bye as the Mustangs finished 13-5 in the league. They will play their Tournament matchup 30 minutes after the first semifinal.
No. 3 seed Hawai’i earned a bye to the quarterfinals and awaits the lowest seeded team following first round matchups. The Wahine will play at 6PM, with No. 4 UC Santa Barbara’s matchup against the highest remaining seed coming 30 minutes following the first quarterfinal. (All of the men’s games are played in the Honda Center.)
MEN’S TOURNAMENT NOTES: For the men’s side, Thursday action begins at noon with No. 7 seed UC Santa Barbara battling No. 2 Pacific in head coach Bob Thomason’s final Big West Tournament before retiring after 25 years at the helm. The UOP finished undefeated in conference at home (9-0) and bring a 19-12 overall record into the contest. The Gauchos have appeared in the last three consecutive Big West Tournament finals but just barely stayed out of last place and a date with LBSU.
No. 6 UC Davis and No. 3 Cal Poly take the court for the afternoon’s second game. The Mustangs finished the regular season with their highest Big West win total (12) in school history and take a 17-12 mark into battle against the Aggies, who have improved by six conference wins from last season.
Long Beach State wrapped up its third straight outright regular season conference crown and pinned down the No. 1 seed. The 49ers (18-12, 14-4) seek their second straight Big West Tournament championship with the first obstacle No. 8 Cal State Fullerton at 6PM. The Titans are 14-17 overall and 6-12 in league play but still suffering with a short bench.
The final game of the opening night of tournament action features No. 4 seed UC Irvine and No. 5 Hawai’i. Head coach Russell Turner’s Anteaters have accumulated 18 victories, the most for the program since the 2007-08 season. The Warriors, in their first season of Big West competition, enter the tournament at 17-13 overall and 10-8 in conference action.
All four Thursday quarterfinal games will be aired on Fox Prime Ticket. Each game will be live, with the exception of Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton. That game will air immediately after the fourth quarterfinal between UC Irvine and Hawai’i.
Semifinal action on Friday, March 15 begins at 6:30PM with the highest remaining seed facing the lowest remaining seed from the quarterfinal-winning teams. The other two quarterfinalists tip off 30 minutes after or at 9:00 p.m., whichever is later. ESPN3 will carry both semifinal games live. ESPNU will televise the second semifinal live, while the first semifinal will air on a delayed basis immediately after its conclusion. The championship game tips off on Saturday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN2.
NORMAL DUSTING–So after the excitement of their one point scary win at UC Davis, and a lifeless loss to Pacific, what sayeth the Beach skipper Dan Monson? “In order to make NCAAs you have to focus as a team and play consistently. We are not doing that right now and that has me concerned. The hardest part of a tournament is that you can’t have any lapses. You have to be consistent and focused and we need to find how to do that in order to win three games next week.”
James Ennis led the team with 12 points, tallying his 35th-consecutive game in double-digits. He also added four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Hopefully he has 72 hours worth of hops still left in his legs.
In softball, perhaps because the size of everything, parents are very evident. One of my favorites is Darcelle Jones-Wesley, mother of star pitcher Erin and also a non athletic kid Danielle, She and her husband Robert are proud of both especially when Danielle, an aspiring celebrity TV reporter will be representing Rancho Cucamonga in the Donald Trump Miss CA USA 2014 pageant. I guess dad has a shot gun on the front porch.
Inside the chalk the Beach finally got to play near the campus hosting their own tourney with mixed results. An extra inning loss to Va Tech, a regular inning loss to fancy UCLA, two victories over not so fancy Charleston Southern and North Dakota State and a night cap loss to the University of South Alabama. The parents’ snack bar as always was a winner. On Wednesday the Beach actually plays in sight of their own locker room, library and field with a 1 pm double header against Buffalo. The weekend of course is another out of town road trip back to San Diego where the tourney is winnable unless a spelling bee breaks out. The other teams are U Mass, Miami of Ohio, Harvard, Fairfield, and San Jose State.
Winding down and adding their own wacky touch to the men’s volleyball assembly Saturday night was the women’s volleyball team, including a couple of players missing from the end of last season, Alma Cerna (academic progress) and Erin Juley injury. Erin was also evident at the Dirtbags series with Valpo where one of her classmates from Lyons High in LaGrange, Illinois, Spencer Mahoney was in action. “I have been in class with him since Second Grade Erin told us. Then of course we had to ask about her health, “I’m good now” and how she likes Sand Volleyball, “I really do” and what about practicing in the recent cold weather? “Hey, I am from Illinois, we love cold!”
Oh yes, from the LBSU athletes without face paint and fringe, they got beat 3-1 losing two games by two points and one game by three to UC Irvine (sand volleyball results came after press time).
The third time would come in the MPSF tourney and I have a hunch the homeboys will have that problem solved. The other big dogs are BYU and somebody else down in the ladder. Long Beach State is back in action next week when it entertains No. 6 UCLA on Wednesday before they take a break from MPSF action by hosting George Mason (March 15) and IPFW (March 16) in the Active Ankle Classic.
For the track followers out there you will be pleased to hear that three Niners took first place in the Fullerton party last weekend. Meghan Foley finished ahead of the pack in the 1500-meter run with a personal-record 4:34.90, while Alexandra Cervantes claimed the shot put title (41-11.5). On the men’s side, Jacob Fraser took top honors in the discus at 164-06, and Jason Harrell made it a 1-2 finish for LBSU as he was the runner-up (161-01). Nathan Wright added a 13th-place showing (142-07). And this follow-up on distant runner Liz Ramos who was hit by a car while jogging near campus before Christmas. She was just moved from the ICU at St. Mary’s to a rehab facility in Westminster. Slow progress but progress her family and friends are happy to report.
My inner thoughts about trying to ride put on another Honda champipnships. Obviously the Beach had the luxury of playing their bench on a Saturday where the UOP Tigers were destined to win. Gave some Niner coaching staff looks at the irregulars and some rest to the regulars. Oh yes, and set up a revenge factor for LBSU because you wouldn’t want face a team you had already beaten twice. As to coaching, it may be a secret but I feel that Dan Monson really misses his assistant head coach Vic Couch who has been with DM for 13 seasons, six here and all seven at Minnesota. Vic is a great talent scout and he also knows west coast hoops from his days as a defensive-mined player at Santa Clara through this season. Hopefully the medics can get him back on the bench soon but I expect that Rod Palmer may have to fill the #2 spot.
Winding up with our tear stained Diamond Dust report on Beach baseball. A couple of weeks ago the team which had notable single game wins over Vanderbilt and Arizona managed to sweep Valparaiso. Alas sweep has turned into swept and it was late in game three before the locals had even scored at run at Arizona State… Michael Hill hit a two-run home run, the first of his career, but the damage was too little, too late as Long Beach State lost the finale of the three-game series at No. 20 Arizona State 11-2. It looked like skipper Troy Buckley had a plan for a win when he saved starting pitcher Jon Maciel for Sunday and he did move through the first three innings without allowing a hit, but ran into trouble in the fourth inning as Arizona State (10-2-1) took the lead for good in a monster inning. The Dirtbags will play one more game on the road next Tuesday, playing at Loyola Marymount at 3 p.m. Long Beach State will then return home to Blair Field for three games, hosting Wichita State next weekend. If you are splitting time between the Big West basketball showdown at the Honda Center you will enjoy the baseball broadcast talents of Anthony Masterson who does his sport as well as Rob Brender does basketball. Now where and how you listen is way above my pay grade.–DR. DAN