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This Week in the Big West - February 14-20, 2011
2/14/2011
Spring is in the air, with baseball Opening Day this Friday! Softball kicked off the season last week, with tennis, golf and women's water polo already in the swing of things. Meanwhile, men's and women's hoops enter the stretch run to the 2011 ampm Big West Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament at Honda Center! Men's basketball teams also will participate in the Sears BracketBusters event this Saturday.
Baseball
Cal State Fullerton is the predominate favorite in the 2011 Big West Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll, receiving all nine first-place votes. The Titans have at least a share of eight of the last 12 titles and a conference-best 15 overall. UC Irvine and UC Riverside found themselves knotted in second place with 65 votes apiece. Receiving 50 points to grab the fourth slot is Cal Poly while Long Beach State rounds out the top five with 47 points.
For the sixth year in a row, select games l be broadcast by the institutions on BigWest.TV, the conference's video streaming initiative in partnership with CBS College Sports.
Baseball Weekly Release #1
Men's Basketball
Cal Poly trails league-leading Long Beach State by two games in the men's basketball standings, and hosts a key conference matchup against Cal State Northridge on Wednesday. However, the 49ers can clinch at least a share of the regular season championship with a win over UC Riverside coupled with a Cal Poly loss to the Matadors.
For the sixth year in a row, all home and conference games will be broadcast by the institutions on BigWest.TV, the conference's video streaming initiative in partnership with CBS College Sports.
Men's Basketball Weekly Release #15
Women's Basketball
Cal Poly Head Coach Faith Mimnaugh needs just one more conference wins to reach 100 Big West victories, a feat only four other league coaches have accomplished. The Mustangs, who returned a majority of their players from 2009-10, own a 10-1 conference mark. Mimnaugh's first opportunity to capture her 100th victory is Thursday evening when the Mustangs travel Cal State Northridge.
Long Beach State claimed back-to-back victories for just the second time this year to improve to 5-7, tying them for fifth place. Pacific (4-7) finds themselves in seventh place after grabbing a win over NorCal foe UC Davis and ninth-place Cal State Northridge defeated eighth-place Cal State Fullerton to come within one win of the eighth slot.
The Long Beach State 49ers play their final game of the season at The Walter Pyramid Saturday evening when they entertain UC Riverside. Long Beach State, who closes out the 2010-11 season with a three-game road trip, is 5-7 when playing in front of its hometown fans. Seniors Ashley Bookman, Courtney Jacob and Melanie Lisnock will be honored after Saturdays contest.
For the sixth year in a row, all home and conference games will be broadcast by the institutions on BigWest.TV, the conference's video streaming initiative in partnership with CBS College Sports.
Women's Basketball Weekly Release #14
Golf
Long Beach State will be busy this week, with the men hosting the Battle at the Beach and the women hosting the Gold Rush on Monday and Tuesday. The 49er men will be joined by the UC Davis Aggies in Newport Coast, CA while Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside are also participating in the Gold Rush in Yorba Linda, CA. Meanwhile the UC Irvine women will also be in action Monday and Tuesday at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge.
Golf February News & Notes
Softball
Tournament play takes the spotlight as four tourneys dot the Big West schedule. There will be one at a league diamond as UC Riverside hosts its annual aTen Construction Tournament. The Highlanders will take on Minnesota, Rutgers and Loyola Marymount over the three-day event at Amy S. Harrison Field.
Softball Weekly Release #2
Tennis
The 2011 Big West Men's and Women's Tennis Championships are a scant three months away a Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, April 28 through May 2.
Tennis Weekly Release #5 (coming soon)
Women's Water Polo
Only six games dot the Big West women’s water polo schedule this week, a light fare after a smorgasbord of contests at the Triton Invitational last week. But half of those games take place against the nation’s top three teams.
Long Beach State hosts No. 2 USC in its home opener on Friday, while UC Irvine travels to No. 3 UCLA Saturday. Pacific hosts top-ranked Stanford on Sunday. Cal State Northridge hosts a doubleheader against Cal State Bakersfield and Occidental, and Pacific welcomes Cal Baptist to round out this week’s ledger.
The prestigious 16-team UC Irvine Invitational is next on deck February 26-27. Nine of the nation’s top 10 squads and 15 of the top 20 compete in that event.
UC Santa Barbara will be the host institution for the 2011 Big West Women's Water Polo Championships this spring, April 29 through May 2.
Women's Water Polo Weekly Release #5
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This Week in the Big West is the one-stop listing of the top matches taking place across the Big West Conference! Each week, This Week in the Big West will highlight the games that fans won’t want to miss and critical match-ups home or away in one location. Keep in touch with the happenings around the conference!
+ - Time change.
* - Game also carried on Fox Sports affiliates; click on link to check local listings.
** - Softball rankings from USA Today/NFCA & ESPN.com/USA Softball.
[1] - Battle at the Beach: LBSU & UCD participating (Newport Coast, CA).
[2] - The Gold Rush: CP, CSUF, CSUN, LBSU & UCR participating (Yorba Linda, CA).
[3] - Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge (Palos Verdes, CA).
[4] - USC Tournament (Los Angeles, CA).
[5] - UNLV Louisville Slugger Desert Classic (Las Vegas, NV).
[6] - San Diego Classic I (San Diego, CA).
[7] - Hillenbrand Invitational (Tucson, AZ).
[8] - aTen Construction Tournament (Riverside, CA).
[9] - Sears BracketBusters.
[10] - at Las Vegas, NV.
[11] - at Santa Clara, CA.
[12] - Peg Barnhard Invitational (Stanford, CA).
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