Don’t look now, but the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team is riding a three-game winning streak and the National Player of the Week into a tournament semifinal match against No. 7 Santa Barbara this Thursday. Senior outside hitter Josh Riley and the No. 6-seeded 49ers will look to advance to the MPSF finals when they take on the Gauchos at the USC Galen Center at 5:00pm, just days after Riley was honored for his outstanding performance last week.

Riley attracted national attention after his superstar play in a five-set upset over No. 3 Stanford in the MPSF first round. Riley notched 21 kills and 13 digs off the bench with a .381 hitting percentage to help the 49ers advance. He committed just five errors on 42 swings, and averaged an astounding 5.25 kills and3.25 digs per set.

The win brought Long Beach State into its first MPSF semifinal since 2006, when the 49ers lost in the title game. Long Beach is 2-0 against Santa Barbara this season.