Cal Poly Claims Second Straight Big West Title: Led by third-year head coach Jon Stevenson, Cal Poly secured its second consecutive Big West Conference championship with a 15-1 record, which earned the Mustangs the league's automatic qualifier for the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Just a season ago, the Mustangs captured their first league title in 22 years after posting a 13-1 conference mark. Long Beach State held on to second place, for the second straight year, after sweeping its final seven conference opponents and improving to a 14-2 record. The Anteaters of UC Irvine finished third, their highest finish since 2003.
Cal Poly, Long Beach State Conclude Season In NCAA Tournament: The NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Committee announced the 64-team field for the 2007 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship, with Cal Poly and Long Beach State representing the Big West. The nationally-ranked Mustangs, receiving the 16th seed, earned the conference's automatic bid after winning their second consecutive conference championship, while the 49ers were awarded an at-large bid after finishing second in the conference and posting an overall record of 25-6.
Sixteenth-seeded Cal Poly swept Xavier and Purdue in Athens, Ohio to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1985. In the third round matchup with Stanford, the Mustangs fell to the top-seeded Cardinal, 3-0, ending their run to the NCAA title. With the loss, Cal Poly dropped to 0-8 in postseason road contests.
Making their 21st consecutive NCAA appearance, the 49ers defeated UNLV, 3-2, in the first round before dropping a five-game thriller to host and fifth-seeded USC in the second round. Having won three national championships ( 1989, 1993, 1998), Long Beach State is now 47-19 (.712) all-time in postseason play.
Long Beach State Joins the Elite With 1,000th Win: Long Beach State's win over UNLV in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament was the 1,000th victory for the 43-year-old 49er program. The 49ers join BYU, UCLA, Nebraska and Missouri State as the only NCAA Division I women's teams to reach the 1,000 all-time collegiate volleyball victories. Six hundred and thirty of those wins came under the helm of current Long Beach State head coach Brian Gimmillaro.
Big West Picks Up Five AVCA West Region Honors: The Big West Conference nabbed five spots on the 2007 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-West Region team, as announced by the AVCA. Big West Player of the Year Kylie Atherstone (Cal Poly), Alexis Crimes (Long Beach State) and Jaclyn Houston (Cal Poly) were named to the AVCA All-West Region team, while Big West Freshman of the Year Kari Pestolesi (UC Irvine) and Michaela Hasalikova (Long Beach State) earned AVCA All-West Region honorable mention honors. Pestolesi also had the distinct honor of being named the AVCA West Region Freshman of the Year.
Jackson Rewrites Big West Record Book, Makes NCAA's Top 25 List: Cal Poly's Kristin Jackson owns the top spot in the Big West in career digs after breaking UCSB's Kristin Nelson's mark of 1,711 digs on Sept. 14, 2007. Jackson concludes her tenure at Cal Poly with a league-leading total of 2,132 career digs, ranking her in the NCAA's top 15. Most recently, she became one of only 24 players in NCAA Division I history to reach the 2,000-dig plateau and appear in 400-consecutive games. Her 5.05 career dig average places her second in the Big West record book and top 15 in the NCAA records.
Big West Tidbits
Julie Magud - PAC
The libero position seems to be the one to watch this season as Julie Magud inched her way up the Big West's top 10 in all-time digs. She recently took over the top spot in Pacific's top 10 with 1,904 scoops and ranks second in the Big West’s career digs. Magud also ends her career ranked third in the Big West's career dig average.
Alexis Crimes - LBSU
The four-time All-Big West First Team member closes-out her impressive four-year stint at Long Beach State with two top Big West records - hitting percentage (.364 - 5th) and kills (1,756 - 10th).
Head Coach Charlie Brande - UCI
Entering his eighth year at the helm of the Anteater program, head coach Charlie Brande kicked off the new season earning his 100th victory, for both his career and at UC Irvine. The Anteaters went 3-0 at the University of Montana Tournament to lift Brande to the 100-win plateau. He currently owns a 118-122 mark (.492). Brande ends the 2007 season ranked third in Big West wins (57) among active coaches.
Head Coach Kathy Gregory - UCSB
Entering her 33rd season at the helm of the Gaucho squad, head coach Kathy Gregory is just two wins away from her 800th victory. She is already one of seven coaches in NCAA history to surpass the 700-win career mark.
2007 NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament
This season conference champion Cal Poly and Long Beach State advanced to the 2007 NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament. This marks just the second time in Big West history that the conference only receved two NCAA berths. In 2005, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara were the two teams to advance to postseason play.