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Six months after Long Beach State upset Stanford in the conference tournament, the two teams will have a preseason rematch.
Long Beach State and Stanford will play a full best-of-five game exhibition match Saturday at the Walter Pyramid as part of the preseason LBSU Fall Tournament.
“It is 100 percent exhibition matches this weekend and they don’t go on our record, but you ask any of our players and they want to win them too,” Long Beach State interim head coach Andy Read said.
Long Beach State ended last season in sixth place in the MPSF but was 3-0 against Stanford, including its victory in the MPSF Tournament quarterfinals. The Cardinal entered that conference tournament match No. 3 in the national rankings but the loss prevented Stanford from reaching the Final Four.
Along with Long Beach State and Stanford, Cal Baptist and Hope International will participate in the LBSU Fall Tournament.
The 49ers-Cardinal match will be the only best-of-five game match during the one-day preseason event. Each team will play in three round-robin best-of-three game matches against each other Saturday morning before Stanford and Long Beach State play in the afternoon.
This will be the second preseason tournament for Cal Baptist, Long Beach State and Stanford.
Cal Baptist, which is transitioning from NAIA to Division II, went 1-4 at the USC Fall Invitational last weekend with its only victory coming against Stanford.
Long Beach State finished 5-1 at the USC Fall Invitational, including a victory against Stanford, while Stanford ended the preseason tournament 1-3.
Read said he is more concerned about figuring out a starting lineup for the regular season than the 49ers’ preseason record. The coach also said Long Beach State’s biggest position battle is for the two starting middle attacker positions.
Long Beach State will replace both its starting middle attackers who graduated after last season, including All-American and Off the Block Blocker of the Year finalist Antwain Aguillard.
Middle attackers Ryan Meehan, Jeff Ornee and Colten Echave will compete throughout the preseason for the two starting positions, Read said.
“We have a good competition going on in practice, and it’s only going to help make them better and that is good for us,” Read said.
LBSU Fall Tournament schedule
9 a.m. Stanford vs. Hope International
9 a.m. Long Beach State vs. Cal Baptist
10:15 a.m. Cal Baptist vs. Hope International
10:15 a.m. Long Beach State vs. Stanford
11:30 a.m. Stanford vs. Cal Baptist
11:30 a.m. Long Beach State vs. Hope International
2 p.m. Long Beach State vs. Stanford*
*Denotes best-of-five game match
All match times PST