Match #29
What: 2019 Big West Tournament Finals
Who: No. 2-seed Hawai'i (26-2) vs. No. 1-seed Long Beach State (26-1)
When: Saturday, April 20
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Where: Stan Sheriff Center; Honolulu, HI
Television Coverage: Spectrum Sports; Kanoa Leahey (play-by-play), Chris McLachlin (analyst)
Streaming Video: Bigwest.tv
Radio Coverage: ESPN Honolulu (92.7FM, 1420AM); Tiff Wells (play-by-play).
Audio Webcast: espn1420am.com
Live Stats: HawaiiAthletics.com
 
Game Notes:

• UH (26-2) and Long Beach State (26-1) will meet in the Big West Tournament finals for the second straight year. The Beach won last year's title with a straight-set win in Long Beach. 
• In fact, tonight's match-up marks the third consecutive year that the teams will play for the conference tournament title — 2017 MPSF (LBSU won 3-1 in Long Beach) and 2018 Big West.
• The 49ers won both meetings this season in five sets to close out the regular season at the Walter Pyramid. Those are UH's only losses of the season. In both matches, UH led 2-1 before the Beach rallied to win Sets 4 & 5..
• In head-to-head meetings between UH coach Charlie Wade and LBSU coach Alan Knipe, the 49ers lead 12-5, including 2-1 in the postseason (2015 MPSF quarters-UH; 2017 MPSF finals,-LBSU; and 2018 BW finals-LBSU).
• With a straight-set win over UC Irvine in Friday's semifinals, UH improved to a perfect 15-0 at the Stan Sheriff Center this season. Dating back to last season, Hawai'i has a current home win streak of 16 matches.
• UH's 26 wins is one shy of matching the program's all-time single-season mark of 27 set by the 1996 and 2017 teams. 
• In 24 seasons as a member of the MPSF and two seasons in the Big West, Hawai'i has advanced to the championship match six times with an 0-5 mark. UH lost in the finals in 1995, 2001, '02, '17, and '18. This year is the first time UH is hosting a title match.
• The teams have met five times in the postseason with LBSU holding a slight 3-2 advantage. Three of those meetings were held in Honolulu in the MPSF quarterfinals (2002-UH; 2005-LBSU; 2015-UH). The last two were held in Long Beach - 2017 MPSF finals and 2018 Big West finals, both won by the Beach.
• The winner earns the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, which will be held in Long Beach. The tournament consists of seven teams and will feature three play-in matches (April 27 & April 30) in addition to the semifinals (May 2) and finals (May 4). The top two seeds earn byes into the semifinals.