
The finals match is set for the men’s volleyball NCAA Tournament.
Check out the matchup and the historical tidbits to know before filling out your NCAA Tournament bracket.
No. 1 seed UCLA (25-5, 11-1 MPSF) vs. No. 2 seed Long Beach State (27-2, 9-1 Big West)
Match vitals: 2 p.m. Saturday in Long Beach, California
Season series: Tied at 1-1
Last meeting: UCLA defeated Long Beach State in four games to split the home-and-home series.
Last NCAA Tournament meeting: UCLA defeated Long Beach State in the NCAA Tournament semifinals last season.
All-time series: UCLA leads 70-42
How they got here: UCLA after receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament swept Fort Valley State in the quarterfinals and beat UC Irvine in five games in the semifinals. Long Beach State after winning the Big West championship to earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament swept Belmont Abbey in the quarterfinals and beat Grand Canyon in five games in the semifinals.
NCAA Tournament record: UCLA (59-10); Long Beach State (21-11)
NCAA Tournament appearances: UCLA (1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2016, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024); Long Beach State (1970, 1973, 1990, 1991, 1999, 2004, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024)
NCAA Tournament titles: UCLA (1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2006, 2023); Long Beach State (1991, 2018, 2019)
Previous NCAA Tournament finals meetings: 1970 (UCLA def. Long Beach State 15-7, 15-4, 15-8); 2018 (Long Beach State def. UCLA 25-19, 23-25, 20-25, 26-24, 15-12)
UCLA player accolades this season: Merrick McHenry (MPSF Player of the Year, First-Team All-American, First-Team All-MPSF); Andrew Rowan (First-Team All-American, First-Team All-MPSF); Ethan Champlin (First-Team All-American, First-Team All-MPSF); Grant Sloane (All-American Honorable Mention, Second-Team All-MPSF); Cooper Robinson (All-American Honorable Mention, Second-Team All-MPSF)
Long Beach State player accolades this season: Mason Briggs (Co-National Defensive Player of the Year, First-Team All-American, First-Team All-Big West); Clark Godbold (All-American Honorable Mention); Aidan Knipe (Second-Team All-American, First-Team All-Big West); Sotiris Siapanis (First-Team All-American, First-Team All-Big West); Simon Torwie (Co-National Defensive Player of the Year, First-Team All-American, First-Team All-Big West); Lazar Bouchkov (Big West All-Freshman Team); Skyler Varga (All-American Honorable Mention, All-Big West Honorable Mention)
Historical stats to know: This is the third consecutive year the Long Beach State and UCLA have played each other in the NCAA Tournament. The Beach rallied from a two-game deficit to beat the Bruins in the 2022 NCAA Tournament semifinals, and then UCLA beat Long Beach State in the 2023 NCAA Tournament semifinals. Long Beach State has the longest active home winning streak in the nation at 27 matches and has never lost a NCAA Tournament match on its home court. UCLA is attempting to become the sixth program in the last 12 seasons to win back-to-back national championships.