Daily 49er, April 23, 2018 by Beach Media

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH

D49er

The USU came alive over the weekend for the third Beach Hackathon. For the full story, see pages 4 and 5.

VOL. LXVIX, ISSUE 72 | APRIL 23, 2018

Courtesy of LBSU Athletics

The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team celebrates winning the first-ever Big West Championship at the Walter Pyramid after sweeping Hawaii Saturday.

SPIKING GOLD

fter sweeping Hawaii 25-23, 25-14, 25-19 Saturday, the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team took the inaugural Big West tournament championship at the Walter Pyramid. The next day, the NCAA men’s volleyball committee announced the seven teams that will partake for the opportunity to hoist the volleyball championship. Long Beach will receive a bye week, and will face the winner of Ohio State/King and UC Irvine in the semifinals. The other first round game will be UCLA and Harvard, where the winner will face BYU in the semifinals. The first round games will be at UCLA at the Pauley Pavilion where Long Beach will play the semifinal game May 3 and the championship game May 5. For the full story, see page 7.

BUDGET

CSU opts to not raise tuition for 2018-19 school year Cal State administration aims to press state legislators for more funding. By James Chow

Senior News Assistant

Officials from the California State University system announced Friday that a tuition in-

crease would not go into effect for the 2018-19 school year. Since November, the CSU Board of Trustees has been discussing a potential tuition hike to compensate for systemwide financial shortfalls from the state budget. Representatives attribute the state’s healthy economy as a primary reason to keep tuition as it stands. “In light of California’s strong economy, California’s students and their families should not be

saddled with additional financial burden to attain public higher education,” said CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White in a press release. “We will continue to make the case to lawmakers, who represent all Californians, that an educated citizenry should be at the top of the state’s highest priorities.” Jocelyn Espitia, a junior computer science major, said she was initially worried about the potential increase.

“I think that’s great [that there won’t be an increase],” Espitia said. “Having that extra burden, even if it’s just $200, it really adds up.” Douglas Domingo-Foraste, Long Beach chapter president of the California Faculty Association, sympathized with students facing financial hardships. “You can’t do well in school if you can’t afford the gas to get here or the books to study,” Domingo-Foraste said in an emailed

statement. The Cal State system receives funding from two sources: tuition revenue and the state budget. In January, California Governor Jerry Brown proposed allocating $92.1 million toward the CSUs. Last November, Cal State representatives estimated $263 million to fulfill universities’ needs across the 23 campuses, but see MONEY, page 2

2 NEWS

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SUSTAINABILITY

Mixing it up for a greener future The 7th Annual Green Generation Mixer took place at the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden Thursday. By Sarah Vehrs

Assistant News Editor

Hundreds from the Long Beach community and campus gathered for an evening filled with dancing, beer and go-green enthusiasm, all to celebrate Earth Week at Cal State Long Beach. The seventh annual Green Generation Mixer was the university’s biggest sustainability event of the year. It allowed for Long Beach sustainability leaders to mingle with hundreds of attendees Thursday at the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden. The event was an opportunity for the university to showcase a variety of environmentally sustainable projects that students have been working on, according to Melissa Soto, the campus planner with the Office of Planning and Sustainability. “This really shows what the campus is doing for sustainability efforts,” Soto said. “We don’t always have an opportunity to mix and mingle with staff, faculty and students all at the same time, so this is really good opportunity.” Four VIP speakers were featured at the event, including President Jane Close Conoley; Rajan Hoyle, a representative for Long

Sarah Vehrs | Daily 49er

People of all ages enjoyed the Green Generation Mixer at the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden, which showcased sustainability projects in Long Beach.

Beach City Councilmember Lena Gonzalez; Associated Students Inc. President Joe Nino and Legislative Director for Long Beach Mayor’s Office Justin Ramirez. After they spoke, several individuals were announced as winners of the Sustainability Project Showcase. This part of the event highlighted presentations of student and faculty research, which consisted of creative environmental projects. According to Holli Fajack, the university’s sustainability coordinator, the mixer was twice the size of last year’s, bringing a crowd of over 300 people. The showcase also received more project

CRIME BLOTTER

Grand theft, outside assist and disturbance By Sabrina Flores

Assistant Photo Editor

Grand Theft Campus authorities responded to a distressed student’s call near the Parkside dormitories at 3:10 p.m. April 17. Upon arrival, a student claimed that his red Giant bike was stolen and wished to file a report. According to Lt. Richard Goodwin of the University Police, the student was unable to provide a time frame for when the bike was stolen. “The reporting party is a 21-year-old male, [they] say it was last seen during spring break, so it’s been awhile,” Goodwin said. Trespassing A stranger was apprehended in the University Student Union at 11:17 p.m. April 16 by University Police. “A female subject [was] refusing to leave the area [of the student union],” Goodwin said. “The subject was a Spanish speaker and potentially a frequent customer.” The incident occurred on the second floor of the west wing of the [USU] near the 24hour study area. According to Goodwin, the subject was warned and advised and left the area without further dispute. Disturbance Officers were called to the Beachside Res-

idential Learning Center off -campus dorms at 10:16 a.m. April 15 to address a noise complaint. “This was an anonymous tip with regard to loud music,” Goodwin said. “We went out there and [officers] were unable to locate the room where the music was coming from.” According to Goodwin, after speaking to a residential advisor at the dorms, it was determined that “noise complaints do not exist during the day.” No crime was reported. Assist A staff member from the campus Associated Students Inc. Recycling Center called University Police at 3:25 p.m. April 15 to report the presence of a suspicious individual in the area when they were closed. According to Goodwin, the suspect was described as a “Hispanic male wearing dark clothing and shorts.” The suspect was reported to have ran westbound from the location [the recycling center], at which point the Long Beach Police Department responded to the call. “Officers assisted Long Beach PD on a hit and run, apparently in the area in the recycling center,” Goodwin said. “They [Long Beach Police] were out at Minnie Gant across the street, looks like they [Long Beach Police] found a third victim. I’m not sure what the victim was.” At this time, the crime is currently within the jurisdiction of Long Beach and no further information can be provided by University Police.

submissions than ever before. “Long Beach State is really, truly impressive with all of our advances in reaching a greener future for Long Beach, but here today I’m particularly inspired by all the student projects,” Nino said. Nino explained that ASI has been working with the campus to reach sustainability goals. Last summer, the organization passed the ASI Sustainability Act in an effort to make the campus more eco-friendly. Since then, the university has cut back on selling single-use water bottles and replaced them with reusable water containers. In the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, old

MONEY

continued from page 1

Brown’s proposed allocation falls $171 million short of that request. The university system’s total operating budget is around $6 billion, but the systemwide changes require more funding for resources, which includes adding more online courses and professors and graduating more students through the Graduation Initiative 2025. Mike Uhlenkamp, Cal State interim senior director of public affairs, said the state’s fiscal status looks strong, and hopes that could sway state representatives to put more funding into the CSU system. “If we look at the economic situation in the state of California, the revenue appears to be higher than what was originally projected,” Uhlenkamp said. “If that’s the case, then we are going to go to our lawmakers and advocate to them the importance of CSU in the future to see if they can find the funding to fully fund the budget request.” According to Uhlenkamp, Cal State representatives will continue lobbying the state legislature to secure more funding for the university system. Domingo-Foraste said preventing the increase is a good first step, but there’s still work to do. “I’m very happy there will not be a tuition increase,” Domingo-Foraste said. “It’s embedded in the CSU mission and the American ideal of public education for everyone. Free public education is the cornerstone of democracy and that’s why some people oppose it.”

shower heads were replaced with new ones to reduce the flow of water. Last year the on-campus Recycle Center processed over 75 thousand pounds of aluminum, 134 thousand pounds of plastic, 338 thousand pounds of glass, 258 thousand pounds of cardboard and 236 pounds of paper. According to Nino, that translated into saving over 1,313 trees, 24,111 gallons of oil, over 632 hours of electricity and over 395 thousand gallons of water. “I chose to come to this mixer because I’m always interested in learning about better ways to live that are eco-friendly and feasible,” said Marcia Durazo, a senior kinesiology major. “I love learning about local organizations that are trying to make a change in Long Beach.” As far as the city of Long Beach, District 1 Representative Hoyle assured the crowd that the district is committed to various green initiatives throughout the city. He shared details of the Clean Air Action Plan to reduce emissions at the Port of Long Beach. According to Hoyle, there will be a meeting on Saturday, June 2 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Park for the community to share ideas about how the city can better address climate issues. “We’re always taking more input, so if you have any great ideas about how the city of Long Beach and the 1st District could be more sustainable, feel free to contact our office,” Hoyle said. “Councilwoman [Gonzalez] is a huge advocate of the environment and we’re always looking for more ways to make Long Beach more green.”

In light of California’s strong economy, California’s students and their families should not be saddled with additional financial burden to attain public higher education.”

“

Timothy P. White, CSU Chancellor According to Domingo-Foraste, CFA will continue its lobbying efforts by meeting with state legislators and arguing for more funding until the state budget is finalized in June. He said he hopes that Brown’s “May Revise” to the budget on May 15 will result in more money for the CSU system. “But we can’t count on him,” Domingo-Foraste said. “So our immediate next step is to lay our case for greater funding for the CSU before the legislature. Afterwards, we will also continue to talk to the leadership of the Assembly and the Senate and to the Governor about your needs and ours.” Since there will be no added revenue from a tuition increase, Cal State Long Beach has already started preparing for a budget shortfall. As Brown’s allocation stands, the university expects to have an $11 million budget deficit. To compensate for the lack of funding, campus President Jane Close Conoley has proposed delaying renovation projects, increasing availability of more online classes and implementing a chill of new tenure-track hires of departments with less impacted enrollment.

NEWS 3

MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2018 DAILY49ER.COM | CITYD49ER@GMAIL.COM POLITICS

Crashing both sides of the party Young Americans for Liberty host tabling event to showcase political groups.

By Nicole Fish and Adam Thomas Contributing Writers

Students clustered around tables in the “free speech zone” outside of the University Bookstore Thursday to discuss controversial issues and connect with people who hold different political perspectives. Marketplace of Ideas, hosted by Young Americans for Liberty, was created to bring people together and encourage them to engage in political discussions. It was comprised of various political clubs on campus, including the Cal State Long Beach chapters of Turning Point USA, College Democrats and Students for Life. According to Jael Espinoza, senior political science and international studies major and YAL president, the groups planned the tabling event to raise awareness about political groups on campus. “We want to let our student body and campus community know that there is intellectual diversity on campus... and we actually support it,” Espinoza said. “We want to engage with the community in a completely peaceful and lawful way.” During the first hour of the event, Associated Students Inc. held a rally to protest the potential tuition increase for the 201819 school year. As members of the Students for Quality Education rallied against

Nicole Fish | Daily 49er

Various political organizations on campus came together Thursday at the Friendship Walk to hold a tabling event. The event provided information about the clubs to students interested enough to ask.

a CSU tuition increase over a megaphone, the smaller political groups competed to attract as much attention as possible despite the volume. “I like that they want less tuition while they’re upstaging me,” said Irene Bottros, a construction management major tabling with Turning Point USA. “But I think this was a coincidence. We don’t ask ASI if we can table out here, because that’s what we believe in — free speech everywhere. In order to draw attention to their table amid noisy competition, Isaac Perez, a philosophy major and secretary for the YAL, spent time playing his guitar while tabling for the group. For Perez, the recent strikes in Syria were a major point to bring up

with passersby. “The goal is to bring awareness to about the overseas interventions that the U.S. is involved in [and]...to support the troops by keeping them here,” Perez said. “All this overseas stuff doesn’t work. A lot of money and a lot of lives lost.” Perez discussed the Young Americans for Liberty’s campaign, “#SupportTheTroops by #BringingThemHome” to promote a non-interventionist foreign policy. The club will host an event Thursday April 26 where students can assemble care packages for deployed troops. Treasurer for the CSULB College Democrats David Ochoa was on hand to grab the attention of students passing by.

In addition to promoting their club, the campus Democrats aimed to gain support for increased community activism on behalf of Josh Newman, the democratic state senator currently facing a recall effort led by California Republicans. “We’d love to keep doing [these events],” Ochoa said. “I think it’s definitely good for students to come around and see all the different ideas and groups on campus that they can get to know, to better understand where they line up themselves.” Although the College Republicans were invited, the club did not attend the tabling event. According to Connor Tucholski, president of the club and senior majoring in history, most of the

club’s activism goes on behind the scenes with a process he calls “deployments,” a broad-based term for in-person off-campus activism like canvassing efforts. Major efforts for the campus republicans include pushing against to repeal the gas tax, as well as leading the charge to recall Newman. While members from Young Democratic Socialists of America were in the quad at the same time as Marketplace of Ideas, they were present partly by coincidence, as they were there to support ASI and SQE’s Fund the CSU rally which aimed to gather signatures for a proposed ballot initiative to fund tuition for CSU students through an estate tax. “We were invited to be a part of [the YAL] event,” said Chandler Hull, the graduating senior of International Studies and member tabling for the YDSA at the event. “But we also had an invite from the SQE to stop the tuition increase, and we thought this would be a far more beneficial place to position ourselves.” Despite the difference in political beliefs and competing with the ASI event, the smaller clubs and student organizations representing differing political positions appeared to get along well together for the duration of the event. “We haven’t experienced any outright animosity, but it does make me a bit nervous when we come out to table,” said Rachel Haering, an English major tabling with the Students for Life. ”We’ve found that when we structure our outreach events as polls and surveys [to] engage people...they’re happy to have a civil dialogue.”

2018 CSULB DOERS DO

MAY INTERSESSION

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www.ccpe.csulb.edu/summer

May 29–July 6 (S1S) July 9–August 17 (S3S)

May 29–August 17 (SSD)

(800) 963-2250 CCPE-info@csulb.edu

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY LONG BEACH COLLEGE OF CONTINUING AND PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

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4 ARTS & LIFE

MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2018 DAILY49ER.COM | ARTSNLIFED49ER@GMAIL.COM

Samantha Diaz | Daily 49er

A group of students test out their virtual reality video game, “Flap” which is meant to put players in the game application, “Flappy Bird” by creating obstacles to dodge.

Samantha Diaz | Daily 49er

Two students take a nap on the floor of the “quiet room” in the University Student Union at 3 a.m., halfway through the event.

Hunter Lee | Daily 49er

Students crowd into the University Student Union ballroom, to develop a video game from scratch during the third annual Beach Hackathon.

Hunter Lee | Daily 49er

Students utilize multiple computers in order to develop their video game programs. Groups competed for the shot at winning prizes from tech giants like Google and TeleSign. With only 24 hours to develop their games, students work around the clock with minial breaks.

ARTS & LIFE 5

MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2018 DAILY49ER.COM | ARTSNLIFED49ER@GMAIL.COM CAMPUS EVENTS

Guess who’s hacked, hacked again

For 24 hours, the USU Ballrooms housed sleep deprived students and innovative creations. By Samantha Diaz & Kristi Alarcon Staff Writer

Cases of water bottles, soda cans, caffeine chews and candy piled high outside of the University Student Union Ballrooms over the weekend. But this wasn’t an elaborate stockpile to prepare for an apocalypse — it was to nourish over 100 coders as they programed for a chance to claim various prizes. The third annual Beach Hackathon gathered swaths of night owls as 50 to 75 teams grouped together to develop their own video games or programs from scratch — all in 24 hours. The event began at 3 p.m. Saturday and ended 3 p.m. Sunday, demanding a full 24 hours of determination and creativity fueled by the many snacks offered. The participants, largely computer science majors from various schools, competed for cash and tech-savvy priz-

Samantha Diaz | Daily 49er

Many participants in the 24-hour Beach Hackathon event gave in to their sleep deprivation, taking naps on and under tables throughout the night.

es donated by sponsors Google, Formula Drone, TeleSign and Full Experiences. Michael Borsko, computer science alum and founder of the event, worked with the Major Hacking League to host the marathon, giving students the chance to develop any kind of game, product or software imaginable. “The only limitation is what you can do in 24 hours and it bet-

ter be legal,” Borsko said. “What we at Beach Hacks try to do is keep it as open as possible because we don’t want to stifle people by having to swing it toward a specific thing.” Participants didn’t seem to mind the challenge as they worked as hard as their sleep-deprived minds would allow them on virtual reality video games, filing systems and website plat-

forms. While the event emphasized that no experience is necessary, many of the attendees were hackathon and coding veterans, bringing years of practice with them. Junior computer science major Jimmy Lanh came to the event with over 10 years of coding under his belt. He and his partner, Kelly Hall, prepared for the long night with pillows, sleeping

bags, cases of Dr. Pepper and two matching unicorn onesies. The pair developed a file system similar to Torrent, which communicates files and data throughout different computers. The change Lanh and Hall tried to implement that’s different from Torrent however, was to use encryptions to create a more fullproof system. “Hackathons are usually very fun and casual and for learning but of course you start getting competitive even if you start off thinking let’s go just for fun,” Hall said. “When you start coding and getting something to work you go, ‘Oh let’s go for the prize.’” Lanh and Hall were one of many groups that decided to stay overnight to work on their projects by either migrating to the designated “quiet area” or unrolling their sleeping bags in between the crammed tables. Using the free cup of noodles, energy drinks and caffeine-filled candy as fuel, students worked through the night until 3 p.m. Sunday when they were asked to drop their keyboards and mice to wait for the winners to be announced. This article will be updated with the winners when announced.

Journalism and Public Relations Day Navigating Borders: Careers, Cultures and Countries

USU Ballrooms Wednesday, April 25 Coffee and Refreshments 8:30 - 9:30 a.m.

Panel: Navigating Careers 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.

Panel: Reporting on Borders and Cultures 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Lunch and Awards Ceremony 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.

Networking and Mentoring Fair 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Featuring Professionals:

Stephanie Mendez ABC7

Jimmy Szczepanek Porter Novelli

Tracy Boucher Los Angeles Times

Marcello Sawyer American Public Media Group

Kara Bautch Make-A-Wish

6 OPINIONS

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SCANDAL

Sean Hannity becomes the show The Fox News host finds himself in hot water after he was revealed as third client of Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen. By Jarrod Castillo Staff Writer

ust when we thought the dark clouds surrounding President Donald Trump and his lawyer,, Michael Cohen couldn’t get any more Stormy, it appears Fox News anchor Sean Hannity has stumbled into the crossfire. While it should seem obvious that journalists should adhere to ethical standards, put aside personal biases and answer only to the public, it appears that Hannity, as a news anchor, has forgotten these principles in his haste to bash Mueller. This is why he should no longer be on air. On April 9, Cohen’s office, home and hotel were raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after a tip from Robert Mueller, the Special Prosecutor in charge of the investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia. After lambasting the raid, it was revealed in court that Hannity was Cohen’s “secret” third client. Two of Cohen’s clients, Elliott Broidy, a Republican philanthropist and Trump and are currently under investigation by the FBI for violating campaign finance laws when they paid off women they supposedly had affairs with, including adult film star Stormy Daniels. Before this revelation, millions of Americans tuned in to watch Hannity criticize Mueller on Fox News and defend the actions of the president and his lawyer.

With his relationship with Cohen now public, his criticism of Mueller raised ethical concerns and put Hannity’s credibility into question. “I did have occasional brief conversations with Michael Cohen,” Hannity said on his show. “He is a great attorney about legal questions I had, or I was looking for input and perspective.” Hannity later stated that he and Cohen spoke almost exclusively about real estate. Not once during these events did Hannity decide to disclose his association with Cohen to his audience. Once it was revealed that Hannity was a client of Cohen, red flags were immediately raised about Hannity’s journalistic integrity. Let’s lay out the guidelines of a journalist. First and foremost, a journalist is supposed to seek the truth and report it — they should be accurate, fair and honest. While he kept this relationship under wraps, he demonized Mueller and his investigation. On one of his more recent shows, Hannity likened Mueller to a mob boss, putting up a graphic labeled “The Mueller Crime Family?” He has claimed that Mueller is unfit to lead the “witch hunt” investigation because as a prosecutor in Boston, Mueller allegedly “looked the other way” when dealing with a notorious gangster and killer, Whitey Bulger. During the segment, Hannity tried to discredit the investigation by saying that Mueller’s

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Brian Cahn | Zuma Press

Fox News host Sean Hannity addresses Proclaim 17, the National Religious Broadcasters International Christian Media Convention, on Feb. 27, 2017 in Orlando, Fla.

staff consisted of some Clinton donors, which he portrayed as a conflict of interest. Which leads to perhaps most important ethical standard that reporters live by — to work independently in order to avoid any conflict of interest.

While it should seem obvious that journalists should adhere to ethical standards, put aside personal biases and answer only to the public, it appears that Hannity, as a news anchor, has forgotten these principles in his haste to bash Mueller.

“

By this, journalists are never supposed to lobby in political campaigns and must work to secure the public’s trust. Their primary allegiance should be to

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the public and if he or she strays from that, they risk destroying their credibility. Hannity has been a staunch supporter of Trump and has consistently defended the president’s actions. His criticisms of Mueller’s investigation could be seen as defending an ally or friend, rather than defending the public’s interest. Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, one of Hannity’s most frequent guests and an outspoken defender of the president, said Hannity should have told of his relationship with the lawyer. “I really think that you should have disclosed your relationship with Cohen. You talked about him on this show,” Dershowitz said during an unrelated interview on Hannity’s show. “You could’ve said just that you asked him for advice or whatever, but I think it would’ve been much, much better if you had disclosed it.” Hannity shouldn’t be trusted

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to stay on the air and talk about the Mueller investigation now that his affiliation with Cohen has been revealed. Because of his relationship with the major players in this investigation, everything he has said up this point should be considered moot. The fact that Fox News has yet to suspend Hannity is very telling about how much the network cares about the public’s need to know. If it were any other news outlet, the anchor might be suspended or even fired. Regardless of what Hannity chooses to refer to himself as, either an advocacy journalist or opinion journalist, he shouldn’t be considered a journalist anymore. In this era of fake news, Hannity’s lack of ethical standards only adds to the public’s negative perception of news media. In essence, Hannity is spitting in the face of journalists all over the world who pride themselves on unbiased and objective reporting.

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Editorials: All opinions expressed in the columns, letters and cartoons in this issue are those of the writers or artists. The opinions of the Daily 49er are expressed only in unsigned editorials and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the journalism department or the views of all staff members. All such editorials are written by the editorial board of the Daily 49er.

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SPORTS 7

MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2018 DAILY49ER.COM | SPORTSD49ER@GMAIL.COM

COMMENTARY

Long Beach is hungry for a National title The men’s volleyball team has the opportunity to win its first NCAA championship since 1991. By Kevin Colindres Assistant Sports Editor

Courtesy of John Fajardo | LBSU Athletics

Junior setter Josh Tuaniga places the Long Beach State sticker on the Big West men’s volleyball tournament bracket on Saturday.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

LBSU strikes gold at the ‘Mid Josh Tuaniga’s MVP performance leads Long Beach to Big West Conference title. By Zackery Handy Staff Writer

In what can only be described as redemption, the No. 1 seed Long Beach State men’s volleyball team dismantled the No. 2 seed University of Hawaii Saturday in the Big West tournament championship, pleasing 2,325 fans at the Walter Pyramid. Exactly one week after suffering a brutal five-set loss in a thriller at the Stan Sheriff center in Hawaii, Long Beach swept Hawaii in three sets 25-23, 2514, 25-19 to take the inaugural Big West tournament championship. The match began with a bang as both teams battled through five ties in the first set. “It was a very typical start to a playoff or championship-level match where it was close in the first set,” Long Beach head coach Alan Knipe said. The two teams competed late into the first set before a key kill and block by

junior middle blocker Nick Amado that solidified the opening game. “[Amado] is such an extrovert,” Knipe said. “Everything is so positive with him. His play has been really consistent, especially over the last half of the season.” Amado finished the night with a match-high seven blocks to go along with his four kills. The 49ers completely handled the Rainbow Warriors for the rest of the match, taking 10-point leads in each of the next two sets. The turning point in the match came when junior outside hitter TJ DeFalco rattled off three straight points, including back-to-back aces, stretching the lead to 19-8 in the second set. “I was a little concerned in warm ups given the travel we have had,” Hawaii head coach Charlie Wade said. “In warm ups it seemed like we had heavy legs. It was not a big difference...overall [the 49ers] were better than us tonight.” Long Beach could not be stopped and was led by junior setter Josh Tuaniga. He finished the match with 32 assists, three service aces and a kill en route to earning tournament MVP. “I was able to lean on my boys a lot for some mistakes I was making early,” Tu-

aniga said. “I was super stoked. That trophy is not just for me but for my boys.” For the second night in a row, Long Beach dominated its opponent from behind the service line, racking up 10 aces as a team. DeFalco led all players in the match with four. His second ace of the night moved him into fourth on the all-time aces list at Long Beach State with 124. He ended the night with eight kills, four blocks, four service aces and three digs. The 49ers implored a balanced offensive attack, spreading kills across the board. “One of the main things is confidence, confidence in my boys,” Tuaniga said. “It’s one thing that radiates from guys like Bjarn [Huus], Simon [Anderson], or Nick [Amado] who don’t always get those double-digit kills like TJ [DeFalco] or Kyle [Ensing], they radiate that confidence.” Next for Long Beach is an inevitable first-round bye in the NCAA tournament. The tournament will be played at UCLA in the Pauley Pavilion May 3-5 and the schedule will be set after the selection show Sunday. The 49ers will look to cap an impressive season with a run at a national championship.

NCAA TOURNAMENT First round:

Semifinal round:

Ohio St. / King (TN) vs. UC Irvine May 1 at 5 p.m.

Long Beach State vs. TBD May 3 at 5 p.m.

UCLA vs. Harvard May 1 at 7:30 p.m.

BYU vs. TBD May 3 at 7:30 p.m.

Championship: TBD vs. TBD May 5 at 4 p.m.

he last time Long Beach State won a national championship, Michael Jordan finished his second three-peat with the Chicago Bulls, Google had just launched its search engine and the very first MP3 player was introduced. It’s been 20 years since Long Beach has tasted a national championship, when the undefeated women’s volleyball team beat Penn State in 1998 to cap off a perfect season. Now the school is two wins away from reliving the glory, and it’s looking good for the 49ers. The No. 1 Long Beach men’s volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season going into the Big West tournament, and looked to have lost some of its edge heading into it. It was the first sign of adversity that the team faced this year, but last weekend the 49ers proved how dominant they really are. No. 6 Hawaii took Long Beach to five sets in back-to-back matches, but when it really mattered the men’s volleyball team buckled down and swept the Rainbow Warriors with ease. Josh Tuaniga held the MVP trophy, while TJ DeFalco erected the tournament trophy. In front of the crowd of 2,325, the team gathered in celebration. In the preseason Long Beach was picked to finish second in the nation, but after being named the top ranked team Jan. 15, the team never budged. Victory after victory and sweep after sweep, winning became the norm on campus and the hype started to rise. It’s been a long time since Long Beach has had a winning culture but the men’s volleyball team have brought it back. As attendance increased through the season, many of the players on the team became widely recognizable while walking through campus. After games, fans would run down the Walter Pyramid and ask for pictures and signatures from the team, something that hasn’t been done for any other team this season. A year filled with a lackluster men’s basketball team and a struggling Dirtbags squad, the men’s volleyball team became a beacon of hope. Long Beach will be able to relax for the first two days of the NCAA tournament, and will wait to face either Ohio State, King (TN) or UC Irvine. The first round should be a breeze for the top-ranked team in the nation, but the final game of the NCAA tournament could prove to be a challenge. UCLA and Harvard are both in contention to make the final round which would be the best scenario for Long Beach to confidently play for the championship. Both teams were bested by Long Beach with ease this season, making it a great opportunity for the 49ers to run away with the trophy. What is most likely to go down is No. 2 BYU and No. 1 Long Beach will meet in the final round and clash in a hard-fought match. Both teams have not met all season, but if Long Beach is truly as dominant as it has been all season, don’t be surprised if the brooms come out even in the postseason.

MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2018