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A late schedule change has resulted in Saint Francis now getting a home match against a top-five nationally ranked team.
No. 4 Long Beach State announced Sunday that instead of traveling to Canada later this week for an exhibition series it will participate in a two-match non-conference event at Saint Francis.
The Beach will open the season against the Division III school Juniata on Friday before playing Saint Francis on Saturday.
This will be the sixth all-time meeting between Long Beach State and Saint Francis and the first home match for the Red Flash in the series. The Beach is undefeated in the series, including sweeping the most recent match in 2019.
Long Beach State after reaching the 2021 Big West Tournament semifinals finished tied for first place in the 2022 Big West preseason coaches poll. The team also had two players named Preseason All-Americans – libero Mason Briggs and outside attacker Spencer Olivier.
Saint Francis ended last season advancing to the EIVA Tournament semifinals. Among the starters returning from that team includes All-EIVA middle attacker Joshua Blair who was in the nation’s top 10 with a .435 attack percentage in 2021.
The Red Flash were picked to finish the EIVA in fifth place in the conference’s preseason poll.