Before Mason Briggs greeted his teammates, he had to salute the true force behind Long Beach State’s epic five-set thriller on Thursday.
“You!” the Long Beach State libero shouted at the black-and-gold-clad fans seated opposite of the team’s bench. “You!”
A hometown crowd fueled Long Beach State to a dramatic reverse sweep to advance to the national championship game, stunning No. 3 seed Grand Canyon 24-26, 26-28, 25-18, 25-23, 15-10 on Thursday at Walter Pyramid. The second-seeded Beach, hosting the NCAA tournament for the first time since winning it in 2019, will face No. 1 seed UCLA on Saturday at 2 p.