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The Long Beach State and Pepperdine rivalry is back on.
The Beach as part of releasing its 2024 schedule announced that following a four-year hiatus they will play a non-conference match against the Waves on Jan. 26.
This will be the second regular season meeting between the two former conference rivals since Long Beach State departed the MPSF to join the newly formed Big West men’s volleyball conference in 2018. It also will be the first meeting since the Beach defeated the Waves during the abbreviated 2020 season.
Long Beach State ended last season advancing to the NCAA Tournament semifinals for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. Among the four All-American starters returning for the Beach includes All-American Mason Briggs who won the 2023 Erik Shoji Award as the nation’s top libero.
Pepperdine one season removed from winning the MPSF championship finished 2023 in fifth place in the MPSF and advanced to the conference tournament quarterfinals. In addition, setter Bryce Dvorak returns after earning All-MPSF honors being second in the nation with a 10.67 assists per game average last season.
Pepperdine leads the all-time series against Long Beach State 52-47. The Beach, though, has won the last six meetings dating back to 2016, including beating the Waves in the 2019 NCAA Tournament semifinals.
Long Beach State 2024 regular season schedule
Jan. 12 vs. Long Island
Jan. 13 vs. Saint Francis
Jan. 17 at Merrimack
Jan. 19 at NJIT
Jan. 20 vs. George Mason (at NJIT)
Jan. 26 vs. Pepperdine
Jan. 27 vs. Concordia
Feb. 2 vs. King
Feb. 3 vs. King
Feb. 9 vs. UCLA
Feb. 10 at UCLA
Feb. 16 vs. Central State
Feb. 17 vs. Edward Waters
Feb. 23 vs. Lewis
March 1 vs. Penn State
March 8 vs. UC Santa Barbara
March 9 at UC Santa Barbara
March 15 vs. Hawai’i
March 16 vs. Hawai’i
March 29 vs. UC San Diego
March 30 at UC San Diego
April 5 vs. CSUN
April 6 at CSUN
April 12 at UC Irvine
April 13 vs. UC Irvine